


Getting Clowser

by Phantje



Category: K-pop, Twogether (TV) RPF
Genre: Actors, Chinese, Korean, M/M, Oblivious, Romance, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Sweet, The TV show but NOT leaving out all the cute scenes, Twogether (TV), communication struggles, netflix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26813053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantje/pseuds/Phantje
Summary: Korean actor Lee Seunggi liked to travel new places and meet new people. He also loved meeting his fans. What he did not love was that he was randomly put together with some Chinese actor to go on a trip to meet their fans.Who could guarantee that the actor was a kind person and not some stuck-up pseudo-protégé?Despite all odds, Seunggi got along well with Liu Yihao and got closer to the point he did not ever want filming to stop, but that does not necessarily have to mean any more than that they had become great friends, right?(I will upload the chapters for the next following few days. :) Enjoy!)
Relationships: Jasper Liu/ Lee Seung-Gi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Pre-trip

**Author's Note:**

> I did spend the better part of the last few weeks writing this story. I love these two and their chemistry so much!  
> I hope you enjoy the first chapters - see you tomorrow (if anyone actually cares to stick around, I would be thrilled!) 
> 
> I did follow the Netflix 'plot' closely, but this still remains fiction, so please just enjoy the ride. :)

Pre-trip 

Seunggi had not been fond of this idea initially. He liked to appear on dramas, liked to take on a role or showcase himself on a variety show. He liked to think that his personality was charming and that his fans loved him truly for who he was, but all of that did not mean that he jumped with excitement when he was approached and positively urged to appear on a travel show with some Chinese actor.

All parameters were good, actually.

The director was an ace and the concept of traveling through Asia, solving riddles, finding clues, and eventually meeting fans was fresh and exciting.

But Seunggi disliked the idea of appearing in front of cameras 24 hours a day, not able to really breathe and relax, least of all because his co-star would always be around him too.

“I am not sure…” Seunggi had started his polite what was meant to be a refusal of the offer, only for his manager to shut him down immediately with: “You will do very well. It will be one full week, some schedules in Korea and then another short trip. Get ready and prepare?”

Seunggi had balled up his fists, taken a few deep breaths, knowing he had lost the fight.

After talking to his manager about what exactly that preparation entailed, Seunggi had been ushered to another schedule and had nearly forgotten about the whole thing for about a week.

One evening, he suddenly remembered, that he could not expect his Chinese co-star, whose name he had not been able to remember after being told once, to speak fluent Korean. He couldn’t speak Chinese, and his English was barely good enough for basic communication.

The first thing he would do the next morning was organise ways of improving his English and picking up some Chinese phrases.

Seunggi might not have looked forward to this program, but now, that there was no way out, he wanted to do well and show his best side to fans and new people alike.

In order for him to succeed, he now only needed to hope that the Chinese actor was a good person as much as a good entertainer.

One of the more pleasing discoveries Seunggi made was that learning Chinese was terribly difficult but actually quite fun as well. His teacher was kind and encouraging. Seunggi did not necessarily want to impress the actor but it was a good idea to be well prepared.

“So this is for a Netflix program?” his Chinese teacher asked him the first time they met.

“Yes. I will be travelling with Jasper Liu. Liu Yihao.”

“Yihao?” The surprised tone of voice made Seunggi glance at his notes where he had scribbled the Chinese actor’s name.

“Yes. Liu Yihao.”

“He hasn’t appeared on a show like this. I will be looking forward to it!”

Seunggi thanked his teacher while trying very hard not to expect the worst. Even if Yihao had not done any variety shows, he might still happen to be good at them. This did not mean the program was destined to fail.

Things started feeling more real when Seunggi was driven to a rooftop café in order to meet Jasper Liu, the Chinese acting protégé.

Seunggi huffed a little and stared at the blurry of Seoul outside the car window. He had the unbecoming attitude to not think the very best of someone that was praised to the skies by everyone.

He would still give the actor the benefit of the doubt and let him prove that he was actually nice, but the very fact that he was approaching the matter in this way showed that he was not quite as open as basic human kindness should have made him be.

Before the filming on the terrace started, Seunggi was in make-up for a while and received some more instructions. That was why he really only met the actor when already seated in front of the dozen cameras.

He was on his phone, checking schedules for the days before the departure, when the director cleared his throat.

“Seunggi? This is Jasper Liu.”

Seunggi looked up. In fact, he needed to look further up than he had thought.

The Chinese actor standing in front of him was tall. At least as tall as Seunggi himself. He had brown somewhat wavy hair and was wearing a similar outfit as Seunggi, a white shirt and a blue button down over that.

Seunggi was successful in this industry because he was nice to look at. He thought he was handsome. It was not easy, however, not to get self-conscious face to face with this man.

“It is nice to meet you. My name is Liu Yihao.”

Seunggi’s eyes quickly moved from where they were observing Yihao’s hands, pushing up the sleeved of his shirt, to his face.

Yihao was speaking very studied Korean, but he was easy to understand. Due to being absolutely mesmerised by the deep dimple that had appeared on Yihao’s cheek when speaking and smiling timidly, Seunggi did not manage much more than a mumbled: “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Lee Seunggi.”

Yihao smiled a little brighter at Seunggi, and he immediately smiled back. They bowed to each other and sat down somewhat clumsily while the director started talking to them.

“My Korean’s bad.” Yihao said in English. He looked at the director and then glanced over to Seunggi.

“I will translate.” Seunggi said quickly, pointing at himself. “We are a team.”

“Together?” Yihao asked, smiling brightly once again.

“Together.”

The get together on the roof which was both a briefing but also already part of the show itself. 

It was surprisingly easy for Seunggi to forget just how pretty Yihao was when sitting in front of him. His warm skin tone, deep voice, and friendly smile easily made him one of the prettiest people Seunggi had ever seen. And yet, because Yihao looked helpless and struggling at times, it was relatively easy for Seunggi to focus on helping.

There were a couple of tiny hiccups, of course, such as Yihao totally taking Seunggi by surprise with the most adorable: “Key please.” and almost grabby hands after they had been introduced to the concept of the golden key.

Once Seunggi was back home and lying down in his bed, he settled for himself that this program might be as much of a curse as he feared in the worst moments, but that it was certainly also a blessing. He would travel parts of the world he did not have any chance to go to before.

It would be stressful and judging by the amount of things the director told them also strenuous and exhausting, but it would be worth it.

Before Seunggi fell asleep, the only thing he was absolutely certain about was that having Yihao travel with him was the best thing about the entire situation, even if spending time close together with him might just as well turn out to be its own kind of torture too.


	2. Day 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And off we are! Enjoy the chapter. :)

Day 1 

Yogyakarta 

Not knowing at all what sort of thing to expect of the trip, it was not exactly easy to pack clothes. At the third message of his agent saying: I hope you have packed by now, Seunggi sighed and simply went with his gut to decide for things to take.

In his head, he went through the briefing again and added a notepad on which he could jot down ideas for the OST the director had asked them to prepare. He had not yet had any chance to prepare anything, but surely, this sort of program thrived with taking things in one’s stride.

Also, Seunggi had a long flight ahead of him where he could just as well work on the lyrics a tiny bit.

Seunggi’s plan worked marvellously, something he had not actually dared to hope for. Maybe, for this trip, he had suddenly been blessed with more than his fair share of luck.

In the plane, as well as in the airports waiting for the flight, Seunggi managed to scribble down some verses he wouldn’t mind representing this program.

This plan of his had actually been better than he himself had thought because he managed not to think too much about what it would be like to meet Yihao again.

They had only met very briefly but would now spend the week together. Those factors together made it very difficult for Seunggi not to approach the encounter awkwardly.

And still, he could not suddenly just run away. He was stuck in this situation now. It might yet turn out to be a lot less bad than he was secretly anticipating still, all positive thoughts from the first meeting and briefing nearly forgotten again.

Seunggi securely put away his passport and made his way to the exit. He took a deep breath, one of the last ones no camera would capture for the next few days and made his way through the automatic doors.

Immediately, Seunggi started looking for a tall man somehow indicating that they belonged together.

A few seconds and a ridiculous amount of genuine fear later, Seunggi spotted Yihao’s smiling face, holding up a sign which read: “Lee Seunggi-ssi! Come, come!! I miss you!!” 

Yes. Yihao was certainly the absolute best thing about this trip as well as the most exhausting one if his radiant smile was anything to go by.

Seunggi was unnecessarily touched by Yihao’s message on the sign which might be one of the reasons why their first greeting was a little awkward. He was not sure how to react to the straight-forward and essentially completely fictional words.

“You look a little tired.” Seunggi said to Yihao in order to make conversation. It was true as well, though. Yihao looked tired. He had to wait for Seunggi on his own with a predominantly Korean staff, as far as Seunggi could tell.

“Good.” Yihao told him with a dimpled smile, which made Seunggi decide on the spot that he would look ahead and at the director more than at Yihao, as that was the only way in which to ensure a professional performance.

Slowly the ice thawed between Yihao and Seunggi, and they moved towards a taxi. Seunggi was maybe still not comfortable approaching the situation with sense, but he decided to trust his gut instinct and just hope that that would be enough to ensure that he would have a good time.

In the car, conversation flowed more easily. Seunggi doubted sadly that there would ever be a proper conversational flow between the two of them, but they were communicating and as much as that was challenging, it was also a lot of fun.

“I was very busy.” Seunggi told Yihao.

“Busy?” Yihao asked and then nodded along to Seunggi. He looked eager to continue talking which made it easier for Seunggi to also put the effort in.

Food was always a good topic to talk about. One did not need to understand everything because usually the enthusiasm of the other person was enough for both of them to enjoy the conversation.

They sat next to each other more or less clumsily manoeuvring their way through the conversation until Seunggi mentioned that he would like to travel by a taxi like bike as opposed to the car they were currently seated in.

As soon as possible, they left the car to mount a bike and told the driver where to go.

Seunggi was positive that he had made the right decision. The evening air was soft, and the impressions Indonesia left on him felt more real now that he heard all sorts of noises around him.

What had not been so terribly clever about this nearly flawless plan of his was that Seunggi was sitting flush against Yihao’s side.

Yihao was warm and smelled nice. It was a vague scent of fresh flowers with a mixture of a refreshing breeze. In any case, it made Seunggi feel like he was walking on a beach on a late summer’s day.

That, in theory, was not the worst feeling a scent could leave him with, but it was certainly distracting and made it difficult for Seunggi to be sure he would offer a good performance.

Seunggi leaned slightly away from Yihao and took deep breaths of the evening air.

Just when he started to worry about what to say to start a conversation, Yihao asked about the hotel, they started laughing and the atmosphere was lighter immediately. It was as though everything had fallen into place.

For the rest of the journey, Seunggi managed to fully relax and enjoy his time chatting as well as he was able to, even if he was still continuously distracted by Yihao’s almost intoxicating scent.

The bike stopped in front of the hotel and they climbed out. Seunggi suddenly felt the tiredness in his bones after the flight and now the cramped trip on the bike.

Seunggi threw his backpack over his shoulder and noticed for the first time that Yihao had taken a guitar. He would certainly get to hear Yihao play which was an excited prospect. Seunggi did not know how good he was, but he was optimistic that they could work something out.

Seunggi and Yihao followed a hotel staff to their room. Seunggi was wavering a little, properly tired now.

They arrived at the door and the staff opened the door. Inside, the sight of two beds directly next to each other woke Seunggi up a little bit.

Somehow, he had not thought that they would be sleeping next to each other like this.

Then again, this was certainly more spacious than a tent or even a youth hostel would have been, so Seunggi did consider himself very lucky.

“Let’s just sleep.” Seunggi said to Yihao when the staff had left.

They lay down in their beds and Seunggi closed his eyes for a moment.

“Just sleep.”

“Yes.” Seunggi replied.

He was about to get comfortable, when the director asked the two of them to come outside.

Seunggi sighed and sat up. Yihao looked confused and sat up quickly too.

“I envy him for not speaking Korean.” Seunggi said to no one in particular.

As accurately as possible, which was not very, as he was very tired, Seunggi relayed what the director had asked them to do.

Yihao looked very adorable when the wheels in his head start turning, making sense of what Seunggi had told him.

With every passing second, essentially, Seunggi was more and more certain that the program would be successful. Yihao’s cuteness would attract enough viewers by itself.

Seunggi followed Yihao outside and they sat down in front of the director. This set up very quickly developed into Seunggi’s favourite. He was sitting next to Yihao and had no problem portraying a team but had someplace other to look at. Looking at Yihao constantly was exhausting.

Now, Seunggi could focus on the task at hand, which was mainly understanding the particularities of this first quest to find one of their fans.

One of the things they discussed was the money they would receive for the trip. Seunggi quickly told Yihao about the money, and Yihao’s eyes lit up.

“Really?” Yihao asked in Korean which sounded very cute, as anyone would agree. This was not Seunggi’s personal opinion, he just knew what people in general would think.

Having the director immediately take money back for the expenses they had already had was a downer.

Being tricked into retrospectively paying for the coffee Seunggi had ordered for the staff in Korea was very mean, he thought.

Yihao noticed that another load of money was taken from their pile and looked questioningly at Seunggi. His brown eyes were big and trusting.

So big and trusting in fact, that it was way too easy to lie to him.

“Seunggi-ssi, what’s going on?” Yihao asked in English.

“Ah. That’s a donation.”

“Donation?” Yihao asked in awe.

“A donation for world peace.” Seunggi continued.

When the staff explained what the money was actually for, Yihao only laughed and didn’t address the fact that Seunggi had already dented their supply considerably.

After Seunggi accepted the money to take care of their finances, a few more details were discussed before the director left them to plan their trip and decide for an order of the sights their fan recommended for them.

Seunggi got fully immersed in the planning and the nice way the information was presented to them.

Once they had settled what to do the next day, he was even more certain that this trip would be fun.

With the planning for the next day done, Yihao and Seunggi returned to their room.

The time for Seunggi to hear Yihao play the guitar had arrived sooner than he had thought. They only got back to their room, when Yihao pointed to his guitar.

“The song?” he asked.

“Yes!” Seunggi agreed and quickly went to get his notebook.

They sat down on chairs in the living room area, and Yihao unpacked his guitar.

Seunggi was not too shy to admit (in his mind) that Yihao looked good holding and tuning a guitar like that.

Being almost fully professional, Seunggi did not let that realisation distract him for longer than it took Yihao to tune the guitar.

He hurriedly opened his notebook and told Yihao: “I wrote lyrics at the airport today for our song.”

Seunggi showed them to Yihao, but them being almost entirely in Korean, there was not much use.

“Let’s try singing.” Seunggi said.

“Okay.” Yihao said, looking a little nervous. Seunggi was nervous too, but somehow, seeing Yihao nervous calmed him down a little bit. He could take charge of the situation and they would both be more comfortable in no time.

Seunggi put on the guide and started singing to Yihao’s guitar. Yihao was by no means bad, and Seunggi had another relieving realisation that everything would be well.

“I tried, but it was not good.” Yihao said before starting to play. He also said something in Chinese.

Whenever Yihao looked so eager to be understood, Seunggi found it frustrating to not be able to understand him.

“Do you mean offbeat?” Seunggi asked in Korean, which was no guarantee to be understood but always worth a shot.

“Oppa, oppa?” Yihao asked back with a bright grin.

Seunggi was caught off guard. He was both too flustered and too tired to answer or explain, so he did the most mature thing he could think of which was ignoring Yihao and starting to sing.

Yihao joined in and for the first time they played together, Seunggi did not think it was too bad. Yihao was indeed a little off beat, but that was not something one could not fix.

At the end of the song, Yihao looked at Seunggi for feedback. He almost looked vulnerable, but Seunggi quickly explained that with both of them being tired.

“You keep it a little relaxed.” Seunggi explained as good as he could in English.

“Yeah.” Yihao sounded disappointed.

“A little bit.” Seunggi said quickly. It really wasn’t all that bad.

“Yeah.” Yihao did not sound any happier. “I trust you.” He said and started strumming the guitar again.

Seunggi started clapping the beats and sang along to Yihao who was now fully on beat.

As soon as they were done, Yihao reached over to Seunggi and said: “I need your hand! It sounds so good.”

Seunggi started smiling, celebrating their joined success.

“Perfect! We need it.” Yihao said, sounding anything but disappointed, smiling a little in fact.

They continued practicing the song three more times. They sounded more and more like a team, but Yihao got a little frustrated towards the end at being too fast.

“Just a little!” Seunggi assured him.

“Too fast.” Yihao repeated, so Seunggi reached over to him and grabbed his wrists to clap the rhythm together with him.

Thankfully, Seunggi’s body and mind had a way of surviving and continue working when he was properly immersed in a moment. That was the case now too, otherwise, just holding Yihao’s hand like that would have very likely sent every organ in Seunggi’s body into overdrive.

When they were done with their fourth run through of the song, Seunggi got up and Yihao put his guitar away.

“We will perform well.” Seunggi said.

“Yes. Practice more.”

“Yes. Not tonight.” Seunggi said, voice a little hoarse.

“No. Rest your voice.” Yihao said with a kind smile.

Seunggi returned the smile but then walked on to the bedroom thinking how Yihao was certainly one of the people that could not smile any other way than friendly.

In the bedroom, Seunggi sorted through his things to decide what to wear the next day.

They agreed in Chinese to wake up at 5:10am the next morning. Seunggi noticed that even with simple numbers, Yihao’s Korean was better than his Chinese, but they managed to communicate, navigating their three languages and that was certainly what counted in moments like these.

“You shower first.” Yihao told him.

“Thank you.” Seunggi said and hurried to the bathroom. Yihao had had a just as exhausting day. It was only fair for him to hurry so that they could both go to bed soon.

Seunggi was done relatively quickly and went back to the bedroom. Yihao packed away his guitar. Seunggi felt bad that he had continued practicing, but there was nothing apart from sleeping that he could do now.

Yihao stood up and left for the bathroom.

Seunggi took a deep breath and got into his bed. He stood up again a short while later to get his sleeping mask.

When Yihao came back, he was not exactly sleeping deeply already, but he was dozing.

Seunggi heard Yihao rustling around a little. It was surprisingly calming to know he was not alone in a hotel room in a foreign country. Seunggi relaxed more and more and listened to Yihao’s careful movements.

Eventually, Yihao turned off the light and softly said: “Good night.” in Chinese into the dark room, but Seunggi was too tired to even think of answering him.

He breathed deeply and slowly but surely fell asleep, feeling happier than he had anticipated in the morning when he had woken up in his own bed in Seoul.


	3. Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for giving this story a shot! Enjoy and see you tomorrow! :)

Day 2 

Yogyakarta 

Seunggi’s merciless alarm woke him the next morning. He was about to turn his alarm off, when a second alarm mixed in with his own and made him jump.

Slowly, Seunggi pulled his sleeping mask away from his eyes, allowing himself some time to remember that he was lying next to the Chinese actor Liu Yihao in an Indonesian hotel room.

When Seunggi had succeeded in opening his eyes and was sitting up, Yihao was already standing in the middle of the room, wearing a silk, deep blue pyjama set.

“I will go first.” Yihao mumbled in English, voice still deep from sleep.

Seunggi nodded which was unnecessary as Yihao was not facing him. He opted not to say anything, fascinated by Yihao’s pyjamas, but not confident enough to say anything about them yet.

After getting dressed and having breakfast in the dining room of the hotel, mostly in silence, too tired to speak in a foreign language this early in the morning, Seunggi and Yihao went outside to their rented car.

Seunggi was happy to see Yihao equally excited as him about the Jeep. They got inside, and Seunggi drove off the premise.

“Did you sleep well?” Seunggi asked once they were safely on their way.

“Yes…” Yihao fiddled with his seatbelt, not yet done. Seunggi waited patiently for him to continue.

“This was the first time I was sleeping in one room… with a man. I thought maybe we have two rooms.” Yihao was merely stating something. He was neither saying that it had been a negative surprise nor that he had been uncomfortable. He also did not say that he had been comfortable but at least he had slept well.

“I like to camp but hotel bed is also good.” Yihao said.

“Yes. I slept well.” Seunggi said quickly. He missed the opportunity to address the pyjama and simply continued driving them to their first stop.

It was fun driving a Jeep, and it was easy to talk about meaningless things after Yihao had shared one of the first personal thoughts Seunggi had actually heard him express.

“Thank you so much.” Yihao said when Seunggi stopped the car in the carpark.

Yihao’s sincere gratitude felt a bit much, but Seunggi was very touched, nonetheless. It was very kind of Yihao to want to thank him for such a simple task a driving.

“My pleasure.” Seunggi returned honestly, and they climbed out of the car.

They met the director and their dolls at a hut and were told what they would need to do.

At the light of heaven, they were asked to find a lamp and take it back to the director.

The mission, if it could even be called that, seemed easy enough. At least until Seunggi saw the means of transport by which they would reach the tunnel of the cave leading to the so-called Heaven’s light.

On a rope, they would slowly be let down the drop. The catch was that a row of people would manually lower them down.

Seunggi saw that Yihao tried to not show that he was in any way uncomfortable. Seunggi remembered him being very outspoken about not being fond of heights. He had been the most vocal about not wanting to do bungee jumping or skydiving at their first meeting.

Even a secure seat like this one going down a couple of meters would not seem like a small deal to him. Seunggi overtook Yihao and stood closer to the edge and the instructors.

“I will go first.” Seunggi told Yihao.

“Yes?” Yihao seemed a little relieved.

Seunggi repeated the same to the instructors but they were told that they could go together.

“Really?” Yihao asked in Korean. He seemed a lot more at ease already. Still somewhat uncomfortable and gathering courage to leave his comfort zone, but a little less jittery. Seunggi was glad.

The instructors strapped them into the seat and pushed them over the edge, slowly letting them down.

“No, no, no!” Yihao chanted, clinging to the straps. Seunggi felt his heart beating faster too, but he managed to enjoy the beauty around him.

Slowly, Yihao calmed down too and went over to expressing sounds of marvel not of fear.

“It’s beautiful!” Seunggi said, and Yihao nodded eagerly.

Once they had made it down safely, they were freed from the straps and made their way into the cave, after ensuring that there was in fact a lamp for them to be found that way.

The inside of the cave was way bigger than Seunggi had expected, and a lot muddier too, which did explain the wellies they had put on, at least.

It was not easy walking through the mud. Seunggi was the first to get stuck. He needed Yihao’s help to continue.

After that, it was mainly Yihao that got stuck. He would laugh, accompanied by a: “Seunggi-ssi!”, and Seunggi would somehow make his way over to him to free him from the mud and continue for a few steps before Yihao inevitably got stuck again.

Seunggi did express his fear that Yihao was not an exactly skilled hiker, but surprisingly, it was a lot of fun to take on the battle with the mud together.

Not too long after they had set out, they were rewarded with the most awe-striking sight. A gigantic hole in the cave let sunrays illuminate the bottom of the cave with movie-like light beams.

“This is beautiful!” Seunggi exclaimed. It was humbling in a way to see how beautiful nature could be.

“The light!” Yihao joined in with a bright smile and his arms stretched out wide.

“It’s like a movie!” Seunggi said, busy staring at the fantastical beams.

Yihao nodded eagerly and giggled. The giggle sounded sweet, and Seunggi caught himself thinking that Yihao’s giggles were the perfect OST for a moment like this.

“Seunggi-ssi, the lamp!” Yihao shouted and succeeded in letting Seunggi think of everything but the ridiculous thought he had just had.

Together, Seunggi and Yihao climbed the rock leading to the genie lamp. They raised it over their heads and cheered for themselves. It had been quite the task to get down the drop and through the mud. A bit of celebration was certainly adequate.

“I am so touched.” Yihao said.

“Touched, yes.” Seunggi agreed. This was a very touching moment. The atmosphere filled his heart with happiness. It was not a moment he was likely to forget all too soon.

“Let’s make a wish.” Seunggi said, bringing the lamp in front of them. “There could be a genie in here.”

“Let’s rub it.” Yihao said and reached for the lamp.

They rubbed the golden lamp, and Seunggi closed his eyes to make a wish.

With Yihao next to him, and Seunggi being able to both sense his warmth and hear his breathing, it was not at all weird, that Seunggi’s wish was: “I wish for this to go well.”

Only when Seunggi and Yihao were already on their way out of the cave again, having acquired the first clue to where their fan would be, did Seunggi notice that wishing for ‘this’ to go well, was as vague as he could have made it.

What ‘this’ did he want to go well?

Seunggi would have been intrigued to think a little more about the matter, but he got stuck in the mud and needed to call Yihao for help. The resuming battle against the mud was enough of a distraction for Seunggi to push his wish to the back of his head and stay in the moment with his thoughts and actions.

Seunggi and Yihao sank into the straps that pulled them up again, exhausted but still touched and happy to have been able to experience such a thing.

Where Yihao had been tense on the way down, his body directly next to Seunggi was now very lax. Seunggi hoped that it was not fear that had numbed him, but that he was too overwhelmed with the impressions and exhausted from hiking.

After telling the director that heights were not his strong suit, Yihao should not have to suffer too much.

In the car on their way to the next attraction, Seunggi was still not done digesting the beauty they had just witnessed.

“I want to come back with my friend one day. Or girlfriend.” Seunggi said. “It’s beautiful.”

“You can have a ring!” Yihao said excitedly. It was fun how much they thought alike. The place had affected them in a very similar manner.

“Do you want to marry me?” Yihao asked.

Seunggi’s heart dropped for a second and as a reflex, Seunggi started laughing. “We’d be covered in mud.”

Yihao laughed along kindly enough. In order to not give himself anytime to wonder what his heart was playing at with skipping like that, Seunggi said: “Yihao?”

“Yes?” Yihao answered softly.

“Do you want to marry?”

Yihao tilted his head. “I don’t know. There is no time. So much I want to see.”

Seunggi knew that Yihao was very honest with his answer. He was touched that Yihao already shared deeply personal things with him.

“And you? Want to marry?” Yihao asked.

“I think, I want to be under 40 still when I marry.” Seunggi said, just as honestly.

“It is important to find a person to do things together with.” Yihao said.

“I agree.”

“Take care of each other.”

“Yes.”

It was calming to know that people with the same values as Seunggi existed in the world. Objectively, he knew that he was not asking for much or that is standards were not completely unrealistic, but it still meant a lot to him that Yihao understood what mattered to him.

The car ride came to an end and Seunggi and Yihao were sent down a stream in rubber inflatables, catching fish and looking for a clue. The water and the activity were the perfect refreshment and distraction for whatever that had been in the car.

Seunggi had been momentarily distracted by how good Yihao looked in all black, which he thought was hilarious. His delighted giggles that were annoyingly sweet also distracted Seunggi for a short while, but all in all, Seunggi was rather focused on the task at hand.

He and Yihao were a good team, and more and more, Seunggi actually forgot that they were filming for something. He was well used to cameras around and on him at all times, so as soon as they blended into his surroundings, he had no trouble imagining that it was just him and Yihao on this trip.

When they reached the fishing area, Seunggi was convinced it was absolutely necessary to be clever, cheat a little, and get done with the mission as soon as possible.

Not being understood was somewhat frustrating at times. At first, Yihao giggling and enjoying everything made Seunggi’s own frustration worse. When he allowed Yihao’s giggles to cheer him up, they became something that spurned him on and motivated him, and gradually, his frustration lessened.

Back in the car, Seunggi felt more and more comfortable to hold a conversation with Yihao. This time, Yihao was actually the one that initiated it, which made it all the more comfortable for Seunggi, as he did not feel like he was imposing on Yihao.

“How old were you at your first album?”

“My first album? I was 18.” Seunggi said. “When was your debut?”

“Debut?” Yihao was driving and only glanced over to Seunggi.

Suddenly, Seunggi was insecure. Debut was a universally known concept in Korea. It was both fun and, in this situation, unsettling that Yihao should have never heard of it.

Seunggi managed to convey the meaning of his question a little clumsily and Yihao told him that he started with 23 years.

“I was a model before.” Yihao said, and Seunggi had never been so little surprised.

“I lived with my parents, but then my mother asked: ‘Why do you have no job?’, so I got active. I modelled. Television ads and then, I had a chance for my first movie three years ago.”

Seunggi could understand Yihao well. He understood him better than he understood his own past self in any case.

How could he have ever thought that Yihao would be conceited simply based on the fact that others described him as a protégé actor? Yihao was modest about his success and evidently a hard worker.

Seunggi really needed to work on the kind approach he had towards others.

Yihao stopped the car, and Seunggi mumbled something of a thank you, feeling a little awkward after unearthing such an unsightly side of himself.

Inside the welcoming area, they were asked to pay for their passes and take a picture for the pass. Seunggi tried to haggle a little, an absolute necessity whenever he was asked to pay for anything, but to no avail.

When it was Yihao’s turn to take a picture, the staff behind the counter turned on the photo light. Yihao looked absolutely gorgeous with and without the light, but it was fun to pretend that Seunggi was unhappy about that unfair treatment.

It was both fun and absolutely necessary, as Seunggi had the looming impression that he had been too open already.

Inside Prambanan Temple, a Chinese tour guide welcomed them. It was genuinely pleasing to see how much more comfortable Yihao was.

The way he stood closer to the guide than Seunggi and the way he attentively listened to the guide made it seem like he was the big brother now – which he technically was. They were born a few months apart, but in different years, as Seunggi had discovered.

Yihao was very good in leaving the reins over to Seunggi, which he very much appreciated. Two leading people on one trip would have resulted in quarrels anyways.

Now, Yihao showed, however, that he was very much capable to show responsibility.

All Seunggi could do was silently follow Yihao and the guide. He did listen to their conversation, but he did not understand anything. Yihao’s voice was deep and flowed beautifully in Chinese.

For a couple of minutes, Seunggi tried to analyse the melody of Yihao’s Chinese, as it was completely different to what he sounded like in English and Korean too, but he soon stopped, remembering his struggles with the intonation when learning a couple of expressions in Chinese.

Instead of trying to analyse anything, Seunggi simply tagged along and enjoyed listening to Yihao’s voice. He did yawn accidentally, blaming his tiredness entirely on the heat and the activities they had already done.

Yihao spotted Seunggi’s yawn, and Seunggi already felt bad, but Yihao simply laughed and focused back on the tour guide.

Even if Seunggi was responsible to follow them and to not get lost, Yihao still kept an eye on him and made sure he was behind him.

Seunggi was excluded somewhat through the language, but he was not alone. Just being with Yihao made him feel comfortable.

When they were done with the Chinese tour through the different buildings of the temple, Seunggi and Yihao joined the director to start their mission.

Seunggi was asked to spin tops and Yihao needed to answer a question and find the correct statue to take a picture of and return before Seunggi’s tops stopped spinning.

The first try went moderately well. Seunggi did mess up a little bit, in the sense that he failed the mission for them. Immediately telling Yihao would not have sat well with Seunggi, so he pretended like they did well.

Hearing Yihao’s exasperated wails when the director told him that they had failed because of Seunggi was not all that fun, though.

The second try went only somewhat better, as Seunggi failed the mission a little later.

“Seunggi-ssi!” Yihao shouted, dragging himself over to the mat.

“I am sorry!” Seunggi did feel sorry. It was just a game, and they were having fun, but it was not that pleasant to hear Yihao wailing and see him scowling, even if it was all in good fun.

“I have an idea.” Seunggi announced. “Let’s buy more tops and buy more time that way. We can certainly make it that way!”

Yihao looked at him with big eyes. “You are so smart.” His voice was incredibly soft, and Seunggi could not prevent being genuinely flustered.

The director agreed to the proposition, and they were ready for their last round.

Seunggi couldn’t resist massaging Yihao’s shoulders, encouraging him. He did concentrate on the tops again during the task and knew that he could spend the minutes before falling asleep reprimanding himself for not reining himself in.

Yihao came running back with the last picture with one top still spinning. The picture he had taken was correct, so they completed the mission.

In a flurry, Yihao started hugging Seunggi, and Seunggi was left wondering how, even on the hottest of days, Yihao gave the most comfortable hugs that Seunggi never wanted to leave.

With another clue in their bag, Seunggi and Yihao were sent back to their car on a tandem. Seunggi failed to see just why that mode of transport would be necessary, but Yihao looked so delighted and sounded so happy behind him, that he did not even say anything.

The lasting impression that bike ride left on him, in any case, was the sudden desire to go for a bike ride along Han River. Yihao seemed like the sort of person that would enjoy such a trip too.

Seunggi did not really dare to look into just why imagining different sorts of activities with Yihao in the future came so naturally to him. He simply focussed on being relaxed and at ease around him.

That mindset also allowed him to address the issue that had been burning in his mind the entire day.

“This morning, I saw your pyjamas…” Seunggi started still somewhat vague, but at least with agency.

“Yes. Sleep is very important. I have a sleeping suit.” Yihao was very serious about his sleep and his attire, which was absolutely endearing.

“It is a suit.” Seunggi agreed. “I like white pyjamas.”

“White?” Yihao asked.

“Yes.” Seunggi laughed. It was a little ridiculous to talk about preferences of sleepwear, but it was fun too.

“We have connected our hearts.” Yihao said.

Seunggi betrayed himself with reacting more than necessary to that way of phrasing things, but other than that, this car journey contained no serious slip ups.

The next stop that waited for Seunggi and Yihao was a resting place in a big square with different activities. The selling point here were the two big trees with little fences in the otherwise mostly empty square.

Seunggi and Yihao joined the director and were told about the wish fulfilling powers of the trees. One had to walk with one’s eyes closed from one tree to the other and the wish would be fulfilled.

They were sent on their way. They approached the trees and then closed their eyes.

“Yihao, are you there?” Seunggi asked.

“Yes.” Yihao’s answer was genuinely reassuring. Even more so was Yihao’s hand on his shoulder.

Walking with his eyes closed was not the most difficult task ever but having Yihao’s presence next to him calmed Seunggi down. Walking blindly next to each other was actually a lot of fun even.

Once Seunggi had got used to the walking, he could once again focus on the wish. He could not let a moment of guaranteed fulfilled wishes pass by just like that.

Just like he had done in the cave, Seunggi wished that this would be a success.

Where it had almost troubled him that ‘this’ had been so vague when he had first expressed his wish, it was now reassuring. The vaguer it was, the more it encompassed and due to the nature of his wish, the happier he would be.

After crossing the distance between the trees, the real mission was explained to Seunggi and Yihao. They were to win badminton matches against local players.

“I am a good player!” Seunggi assured Yihao and approached the first potential players. Yihao was not saying much, but he was simply a nice presence in the back.

Once they had collected their opponents, Seunggi quickly chose a side of the pitch that was advantageous because of the wind.

“Here?” Yihao asked, blinking against the sun.

“Yes. The wind!” Seunggi whispered to him.

“You are too smart. Dangerous.” Yihao whispered back, which was a very nice compliment in Seunggi’s eyes. It made him feel good in any case.

Before they started the match, Seunggi noticed that a lot of spectators had somehow found their way to the pitch. It was a lot of fun to play with the crowd and make them cheer for them, but it was also somewhat unsettling.

Seunggi was only slowly getting used to Yihao’s presence next to him. It felt weird to already be sharing him with the public.

“Seunggi-ssi!” Yihao called once again, not the first time in the match, and Seunggi focused back on the match.

No matter how much Seunggi tried to focus, they were still not winning.

Yihao was certainly not the best player, but he was enthusiastic and simply cute. In trying to get a ball, he ended up lying down as if striking a pose for a photoshoot. In that moment, Seunggi could just about understand the screaming fans as much as he was annoyed by them.

They had a match to win, so Seunggi did not look into why he would be able to understand the fans or why he would be annoyed by them. He helped Yihao up and the match continued.

During the match, they did try to pull out all stops, but to no success. Yihao distracted their opponents and played when they were not watching. That tactic was not rewarded by success, but Seunggi felt proud to see that Yihao had picked up his cunning habits and was playing dirty.

Even if they lost the first match, Seunggi and Yihao kept playing and eventually won their second match. They had been clever and chosen to play against a child, but this was not about their honour but about meeting their fan!

In the end, Seunggi concluded that he and Yihao were a good team. It had been easy to lose himself in the match. Yihao was supportive and spurned him on.

Not for the first time, Seunggi was relieved that they were playing together and not against each other.

After winning their game, Seunggi and Yihao took pictures with the kind spectators that had come to support them.

It was already late, so they said their goodbyes and quickly got into the car to meet their fan.

“I have never travelled like this.” Yihao said once they were on their way.

“Me neither.” Seunggi agreed. He did not dislike any of it though.

“It’s simple.”

“And stressful.” Seunggi added. “We have a tight schedule.”

“Yes, but together we can make it.”

“We are a team.”

“A team.” Yihao repeated and smiled at Seunggi.

Seunggi would not have dared to hope for it, but he and Yihao managed to find the house of their fan the clues lead them to.

It was Yihao’s fan they met and a very sweet and happy fan at that! Seunggi was not even disappointed it was not his fan they met. He was simply happy to be able to accompany Yihao to such a lovely person.

Seunggi let Yihao sit closer to his fan for obvious reasons and enjoyed watching both of the people so happy in front of him.

“Thank you for showing us such lovely places.” Seunggi said. “Beautiful. Angel’s light was very pretty.”

“Thank you.” Yihao said sincerely, and the fan smiled brightly.

Throughout the conversation, Seunggi was reminded once again just how wrong his preconceptions about Yihao had been. If anything, Yihao was the least conceited person Seunggi had ever met in the business.

Whenever anyone said they liked him, he was always truly surprised and oozing gratitude. Just seeing him should make anyone like him, surely.

At the end of their time with Yihao’s fan, Yihao was asked to sign a workbook. Inside the workbook, there was a picture of Yihao.

Yihao was surprised and Seunggi used that moment to snatch the picture away.

“Handsome guy!” Seunggi said and laughed. He was not joking, but it was fun to tease Yihao.

Yihao leaned against him and over his lap to get the picture back, but Seunggi did not immediately give it back to him. He would have been silly to cut the moment unnecessarily short.

When the book was signed, Seunggi got up and whispered an idea to the fan.

She agreed – she would have been silly not to, really.

“Can you tell me you love me?” the fan asked.

“Yes, of course.” Yihao smiled.

Seunggi sat back down next to Yihao and offered him the vase of flowers on the table as a prop.

Yihao turned to the fan and sincerely and almost ceremoniously told her that he loved her.

It was an hilarious, envious, and pleasant situation. Not that Seunggi was jealous or anything. He had never said that!

As secretly as possible, Seunggi shook his head to get rid of the thought and instead focused on how marvellous languages were.

Seunggi could understand the possible emotions that saying “I love you.” in Indonesian conveyed to those that could speak the language. For him, only the languages he spoke or at least was used in such a way that he could almost understand them created a proper emotion.

Even when they had left Yihao’s fan’s house, Yihao was still smiling and contagiously happy. Seunggi smiled along to him and enjoyed seeing that their mindset truly was very much the same.

“I am very happy and very touched!” Yihao told him.

“Yes. I understand you.”

“I did not know that I had fans here in Indonesia!” Yihao’s eyes were sparkling, and even if Seunggi could not yet read everything Yihao’s eyes were telling him, Seunggi did see that Yihao was open and was not hiding anything from him.

With time, Seunggi would be able to read him better and with time, he would be able to not only let go off his preconceptions but also forgive himself for them.

Bali 

Still elated about the way things worked out with their first mission to meet a fan, Seunggi and Yihao happily made their way to the airport.

The director had given them a time at which to arrive there to get onto their next flight to Bali.

Seunggi was not bad with flying, and Yihao managed surprisingly well too, considering his fear of heights, but they would be flying a lot of times in one weeks, which would take a toll on anyone.

Despite all odds and everything that could have potentially gone wrong, Seunggi and Yihao arrived safely in Bali and got into a taxi that would take them to the accommodation they had chosen.

The accommodation was fairly priced and nothing too cheap. Seunggi needed a clean space to wash up and rewind, and Yihao evidently valued sleep highly too, so a proper hotel it was.

In the taxi, Seunggi asked the driver for the best place in Bali that they would need to see. Yihao leaned over to him to hear what the driver would reply.

“The beach. Nice sunsets.” The driver replied eagerly.

Seunggi forced out a laugh and asked: “We are two men, is that okay?”

“Yes.” The driver assured him.

Seunggi laughed some more. Yihao did not laugh. In fact, he quickly leaned back into his seat, away from Seunggi.

Seunggi had felt the need to ask the question. He had felt the need to laugh, but it had not been comfortable.

Least comfortable of all was, however, that Yihao kept his distance for the first time for the remainder of the journey to the hotel.

In the hotel, Seunggi and Yihao were shown to their room, walking past a pool. It was a shame that they would not have any time to make use of the pool. It was way too late already, and they only had one day in Bali.

The big room with two beds next to each other was clean and had a high ceiling. They would be able to spend a relaxing time.

Yihao walked out onto the balcony, and Seunggi followed him. They did not skirt around each other and the somewhat cold atmosphere in the taxi seemed long forgotten.

“Seunggi-ssi.” Yihao said softly, looking into the dark night.

Seunggi joined him at the banister and looked out into the dark night.

Yihao did not look at him and said something in Chinese. Seunggi had a vague idea what poetic things were coming out of Yihao’s mouth, but he had no way of understanding them for sure, which was a terrible shame.

“This is life.” Yihao said in English.

“Yes. This is life.” Seunggi said, as always happy to have understood what Yihao said.

“Comfortable.” Yihao said in Chinese. At first, only a Chinese word registered with Seunggi, but then he did understand the vocabulary he had learned.

“Comfortable!” Seunggi eagerly repeated in Chinese.

Their quiet time on the balcony was mercilessly cut short by the director calling for them in order to give them their Bali themed map.

In addition to the usual map, the director also precured the golden key, which immediately brought the memory back for Seunggi of Yihao cutely reaching out his hands and saying: “Key, please.” – in Korean no less.

For them to receive the golden key, they needed to win a modified version of rock, paper, scissors with every three players showing a different sign.

Miraculously, they succeeded in winning the golden key. 

Yihao proudly grinned at him and said: “I felt it!”

Seunggi is absolutely helpless in trying not to return the smile. Then again, this was their victory, so he had every reason to smile too.

“This is our baby!” Yihao said happily.

Seunggi’s smile obviously did not disappear hearing that, but he was very happy to be able to chug the beer in front of him. He was happier still, when they were finally free to go and returned to their room.

Rather unprompted, when they were slowly getting ready for bed, Seunggi felt the need to say: “Yihao is smart.”

Yihao had told him quite a few times already, and it was more than high time that Seunggi returned the compliment. Yihao truly was very clever, and Seunggi was reminded not for the first time that he was incredibly lucky to be on this trip with him and not somebody else.

Yihao looked at him simply and said: “I love you.”

That, of course, hit Seunggi rather unprepared. He quickly turned away from Yihao.

“We did it.” Yihao said softly. He had obviously not intended for Seunggi to read anything other than general approval into his words, so this was the perfect moment for Seunggi to stop obsessing about the words.

“Game is game.” Seunggi said, and as always, Yihao repeated their catch phrase.

“We need to be clever and win like that.” Seunggi continued.

“We are dangerous!” Yihao said proudly. Seunggi made the detrimental mistake of looking at him and saw how he was taking off his shirt.

Immediately, Seunggi thought it a better idea to put some distance between them and get dressed for bed.

Seunggi would not have minded going to sleep immediately, but they both had too much sense of responsibility that after washing up, they sat down on the beds and went through their song over and over again.

One of the more difficult to bear moments was when Yihao complained about a stiff back, not so much verbally but with frowning and rolling his head on his shoulders. Seunggi suggested stretching their backs and sat down on his knees.

“Yes?” Yihao asked, tilting his head a little bit.

“It will help.” Seunggi assured him.

He got into the position, pulling one leg up behind him and fighting for balance on the wobbly mattress. Yihao observed him and laughed.

“Join!” Seunggi said, clearly losing his fight for balance due to laughing.

“Okay.” Yihao said and put his guitar away. He mirrored Seunggi and was visibly struggling with his balance too. 

“Ah!” Yihao said and then proceeded to giggle, completely knocking Seunggi down too, because his giggles simply affected him that way, there was no more to it.

“Again!” Seunggi said and scrambled up again. Yihao was still laughing but pulled himself up.

They got into mirrored positions, and Yihao was laughing again.

“Take my hand!” Yihao said and reached for Seunggi. Instinctively, Seunggi reached out and even if he had not expected as much, they managed to keep their balance.

Yihao started laughing again, and Seunggi followed suit. It was impossible not to smile seeing Yihao’s dimple, and it was absolutely impossible to not laugh hearing the giggles that both did not agree at all with Yihao’s deep voice, but somehow also perfectly completed the picture.

After stretching and singing some more, Yihao put away his guitar meticulously, and Seunggi got underneath his covers.

Yihao was kind enough to put out the light, and Seunggi was tired enough to not be at the whims of his delusional and over-analytical thoughts. He closed his eyes, wished Yihao a good night and almost instantly fell asleep.


	4. Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it - our lovebirds on their third day together! :) Enjoy and see you tomorrow! I hope you're doing well! :)

Day 3 

Bali 

It was only the second time that Seunggi woke up next to Yihao, but he was already getting used to it. That was, he would not mind getting used to it.

And that was evidently his tired mind talking. It was absurd thinking about getting used to waking up next to Yihao.

In any case, it was certainly nice to wake up to Yihao rustling about in the room, saying: “Good morning.”, as soon as he saw that Seunggi was stirring.

It was nice because the idea of this feeling like something familiar at some point filled Seunggi with warmth. It was not so very nice because Seunggi had just woken up, hair presumably sticking up in all directions, whereas Yihao was dressed and once again gorgeous enough for a runway.

“You fell asleep so fast yesterday.” Yihao said as he sat down on his bed, facing Seunggi. “Deep sleep.”

Seunggi sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Very fast. You snored a little.” Yihao sounded amused and unscrewed his water bottle.

“What? Sorry. Are you okay?” Seunggi felt bad. He had slept wonderfully, but Yihao on the other hand and maybe not slept much at all.

Yihao hummed happily, taking a sip of water while showing Seunggi his earphones.

Seunggi was relieved that Yihao had slept well, but he would still take precautions not to potentially ruin Yihao’s night again.

A quick shower later, Seunggi and Yihao were on their way to their first location. This time round, they had a lovely old, yellow car as their mode of travel. It was very stylish car but also quite small for two somewhat tall people.

“This suits Yihao.” Seunggi said and got into the car.

“Let’s go, grandpa.” Yihao told the car and carefully rolled off the premises.

“Go, grandpa!” Seunggi chimed in. It was also completely natural, by the way, that he should be endeared that Yihao had named their car Grandpa.

The location Seunggi and Yihao arrived at shortly after was an inviting beach. It was somewhat disheartening at times to be overtaken by motorbikes that were way faster than their grandpa, but it was a very nice car – and sometimes, travelling in style was worth way more than travelling quickly.

The two of them got out of the car, and Yihao patted the roof of the car saying: “Thank you.”

Seunggi did not try to stop smiling and quickly copied him. It was a nice idea to thank a car for taking you somewhere.

Yihao walked towards the two dolls the director placed at every station and bowed down before them, greeting them cutely.

Seunggi did not copy him this time but he did start smiling. He had the ever-growing suspicion that spending time with Yihao any day would lift his mood.

Seunggi approached the director and after sitting down, they were soon told about their next mission, which was to fish, both with a rod and with harpoon fishing.

“Harpoon fishing?” Seunggi asked.

“Yes.” The director agreed with a smile.

Seunggi turned to Yihao to explain what they were expected to do.

“Really?” Yihao asked in Korean. He looked disbelieving but somehow also as though he trusted what Seunggi told him. That mixture of expressions on his face could only be described as adorable, Seunggi was certain that even scientific evidence could be brought forward on that.

“I will go on the boat, and you will go harpoon fishing.” Seunggi told Yihao.

“Really?” Yihao asked, tilting his head a little.

“Are you?” the director asked.

“Yes.” Seunggi said quickly. “I can’t go underwater because of the pressure on my ears.” He was gesturing towards his ears, and at least the look of confusion left Yihao’s face.

“Alright.” The director said and sent Yihao on his way to get changed.

Yihao came back a short while later, clad in a tight black diving outfit.

“You look good!” Seunggi told Yihao, which was safe, as at least, he did not say: You look gorgeous.

“You look good too.” Yihao returned laughing. That, of course, was a blatant lie, as Seunggi was still wearing the same outfit he had worn all morning, and he had never looked as though he could walk a runway.

Next, Seunggi and Yihao climbed a boat that took them to an installed fishing island.

Seunggi and Yihao got off, and Yihao was directed towards the smaller boat to take off again.

“Don’t worry Yihao.” Seunggi said. “I will fish sharks, tuna…”

Yihao smiled, and a fisherman started laughing. That was surely a good sign. If Seunggi got along with the people, he would surely find a way to tune in with the fish too.

That turned out not to work at all. Within minutes, Seunggi caught a tiny fish that they absolutely could not count and so they released it back into the sea.

After that, no matter what he did, Seunggi did not catch anything. He chatted to a local fisherman and even got to lend his boat and entire equipment, but not even that ensured Seunggi a single fish.

He was feeling somewhat miserable in the strong sun, but quickly remembered that Yihao could hardly be doing much better, unless he absolutely adored diving.

They were in this together, so Seunggi would try a little harder for a little more.

Even with putting his entire mind to it, Seunggi did not catch anything. He was in no mood to drag the experience out any further and told the director that he wanted to make use of the golden key.

“Ah, I don’t have it with me now. It’s in Yihao’s bag.” Seunggi told the director.

“How can we trust you?”

“No! You can trust Yihao. He won’t lie.”

“That’s true.” The director agreed, and because it was nothing but the plain truth, Seunggi was not even in the slightest offended.

Now, that the mission was dealt with and a local fisherman would help them complete it, Seunggi decided to relax a little and make use of the clear waters.

He cleverly called it keeping the fishing platform safe and enjoyed his time in the refreshing water.

Not long before Yihao came back, Seunggi got out of the water. He waved towards the approaching boat and was genuinely happy to see Yihao again.

“We didn’t need to use the golden key, Seunggi-ssi.” Yihao said, showing a bucket with a fish and a squid.

“Really?” Seunggi felt a pang of guilt.

Yihao was looking at him with sad eyes. It was not at all a good feeling to have disappointed him.

“The teacher caught.” Yihao said and grinned at Seunggi.

“Ah!” Seunggi laughed and felt relief wash over him.

After measuring the catch, Yihao and Seunggi climbed back on the boat to take them back to the shore.

“You enjoyed the free time.” Yihao told Seunggi.

“I guarded the ship!” Seunggi said.

“There was nothing to guard! There are only ships.”

“You will be touched when you watch this program.” Seunggi said with as sincere a voice as possible. “Believe me!”

Yihao shook Seunggi’s hand, and Seunggi turned to the director. “Since when have I become such a fraud?” he asked in Korean.

“Believe me!” Seunggi said in Chinese. The staff laughed, and Yihao joined them.

Seunggi laughed. It was a bit of a problem that it was so easy to tease and fool Yihao.

When they reached their trusty grandpa, Yihao got into the front seat. Seunggi put his bag into the back and took a seat behind the wheel.

“You looked like you were on a holiday.” Yihao said with what Seunggi hoped was mock-offence.

“No!” Seunggi said quickly.

“No?”

“No, I was working very hard. It was tough work.”

“Was it?” Yihao sounded disbelieving.

Seunggi glanced over to him and saw that Yihao was smiling brightly, so he felt safe to go on. “It was. Guarding a ship is much tougher than a bit of swimming.”

“You swam. I dove.” Yihao said and laughed.

They continued bickering for a while, which did wonders for Seunggi’s tension relief. It was easy and comfortable to joke around with Yihao. This was as close to a perfect holiday as Seunggi had ever got – not that it was a ‘holiday’, of course.

Seunggi stopped the car at an ominously high location. Sawangan Beach it said on some signs, but Seunggi did not yet know what this mission was going to be.

That mystery was soon lifted, when the director explained to them that one of the two would go paragliding while the other drew key words into the sand at the beach.

“We need to rely on luck?” Seunggi asked.

“If the wind is good, you will have a lot of time.” The director said, voice void of compassion as always.

“Who is going to go paragliding?” the director asked next.

“Ground or sky?” Seunggi asked Yihao with the corresponding finger movements. It felt fair to ask, but Seunggi was prepared to give Yihao the easier option because he had already worked hard in the first mission.

“You must be exhausted.” Seunggi told Yihao.

“No. You drove the car!” Yihao said quickly. Why was he so considerate? Did he try and make Seunggi feel bad because he was such an inconsiderate person?

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Yihao asked, and Seunggi easily agreed. Yihao was considerate, but that only supported his belief that Yihao would not love being given the easy way out. He would prefer to win that chance, if anything.

There was no use denying that Seunggi was relieved to be the one to do paragliding. He was not the most talented artist and running around in the hot sun sounded quite odious.

“Why do you look so happy?” Yihao asked Seunggi.

“No, no. Hard work.” Seunggi said. That was of course a lie, but the lie was meant to make Yihao feel a little better so this once it could surely be excused.

A short while later, Yihao left for the beach and Seunggi was strapped into the paraglider. He had a coach behind him and felt completely safe.

With not quite as strong a pang of guilt as in the morning, Seunggi thought that even Yihao’s fear of heights would not have been too bad, as height was here combined with a lovely sense of security. The wind got into the kite and it felt like Seunggi was sitting in a comfortable chair.

Not that he would be able to express this sense of comfort in English in the first place, but Seunggi would still make sure not to talk too much about this to Yihao. That would not be fair.

The paraglide took off and after marvelling at the beauty of the sea, Seunggi soon spotted Yihao running around the beach with a stick, drawing pictures into the sand.

He did draw very well, and even if it was stressful to be dependent on the whims of the wind, it was fun to decipher Yihao’s drawings.

When Seunggi landed and his feet touched the ground again, he did have a sinking feeling of enjoying this day more than Yihao had. He would be a kind friend and take care of him starting now.

Taking care of him did not mean that he could not deny feeling like he was on a holiday. He pretended that he did everything for the sake of their team-spirit.

Yihao was kind-hearted and accepted this. He had pulled more than his fair share of the weight, so Seunggi would take care to amend that in the future.

Seunggi and Yihao passed the mission with flying colours, getting five symbols correct.

Yihao looked incredibly relieved and happy when they were told they had passed. He threw his arms around Seunggi and put his head on his shoulder.

Yihao did not try to make himself heavy, but Seunggi could still feel both the trust Yihao had in him and his exhaustion in the way he put his head on Seunggi’s shoulder.

They separated again, and Seunggi spotted a lash in the corner of Yihao’s eye. He bent forward and picked it up for him – step one on his mission to take care of Yihao.

“Make a wish.” Yihao said.

Seunggi did not like the idea of hogging something that was clearly Yihao’s wish, but still quickly sent off his familiar wish of this working out well.

“You worked hard, right? You must be exhausted.” Seunggi said. His tone of voice was a little too soft maybe. He certainly had not been aware of how soft until a camera caught his eye.

“Did you have a good time?” Yihao asked in a teasing tone.

Seunggi laughed and hid in Yihao’s shoulder. It was justified but certainly not called for!

“He was so relaxed!” Yihao told the staff. “Like in a holiday.”

“We’re a good team. I trust you, you trust me.” Seunggi said, knowing that Yihao was too soft to disagree with him.

After that somewhat grounding and also unsettling experience next to Yihao, they were told where to go next.

Yihao offered to drive, but Seunggi gently, but determinedly pushed him away. He could not possibly make him do any more than he had already done. Also, Seunggi liked driving in general, and driving Yihao in particular.

The next stop they drove to was a temple that was interesting to look at. Gigantic monuments of gods and goddesses looked over a park, towering of them.

Their mission, it turned out, was to listen out to four syllable English words in Korean that a drumming group of topless monk-like people shouted out to them at the same time.

It sounded like a weird mission on paper, and it did not immediately make more sense to experience it first-hand.

The sound they made and the power they oozed were incredible. They were totally in sync and their rhythm was awestriking.

Somehow, Seunggi and Yihao eventually managed to pass the mission and were sent on their way.

They drove back to their hotel and were told to go to the beach to have dinner.

“And the next mission?” Yihao asked.

“Later, I think.” Seunggi replied unhelpfully.

“Later?”

“Yes.” Seunggi said. He tried to be cheerful as it would not help to show just how tired he was. At least one of them needed to be energetic. Maybe it would be enough if Seunggi feigned to be energetic. At least, he could not drag the entire mood down because he was feeling a little tired.

Seunggi and Yihao arrived at the beach and were shown to a table with perfect view of the sea.

Yihao sat down happily and looked eager to have food. His eyes were shining when he looked at the sea, and his golden skin was even more radiant.

“Sit down, sir.” A waiter stood behind a chair he had pulled out for Seunggi.

Seunggi had accidentally been too mesmerised by Yihao to urge his body to follow the usual steps.

Now, Yihao turned to look at Seunggi with a warm smile. Seunggi’s heart felt a little lighter and he smiled back.

Somehow, he managed to stumble a little on the one and a half steps he needed to do before sitting down, but at long last, he was sitting next to Yihao, ample of time at his disposal to calm down his breathing and his fast beating heart.

They ordered food and happily started their first course. It felt good to be pampered somewhat after the day they had had.

Seunggi glanced over to Yihao, which was admittedly not a rarity, and felt bad as ever not to have taken some load off his shoulders throughout the day.

Before Seunggi had formulated a way in which he could apologise and make Yihao understand that he very much cherished their team, Yihao looked at him and grinned.

“Mh?” Seunggi asked.

“There are only couples around us.” Yihao told him.

“Oh.” Seunggi said and looked around. Yihao did not seem uncomfortable, so Seunggi should stay here at the table with him and not let his thoughts run wild.

“The view is good.” Seunggi said, looking back at the sea.

Maybe, it should have felt at least a little weird that Yihao and Seunggi were surrounded by couples, but after spending this much time with him, anything would feel comfortable, Seunggi was sure.

Seunggi did stand somewhat corrected on that as he was not terribly comfortable trying not to choke on his food when he forgot to chew it over watching Yihao enthusiastically stare at either his plate or the sea.

Yihao was very distracting. They were sitting next to each other, which could have installed an atmosphere similar to the one when talking to the director, but somehow, Seunggi really struggled to keep in mind that they were filming for something, even if the camera crew was still someplace around them.

“Do you not like the food?” Yihao sounded a little worried.

Cue, one of Seunggi’s near choking fits. “No, no. I like it. It’s delicious. I am less hungry than I thought.”

That was close enough to the truth that Seunggi did not feel terrible when he received Yihao’s sympathetic smile.

“We have another mission later. You have to eat well.” Yihao told him.

“Yes.” Seunggi agreed and stuffed his mouth quickly. Yihao looked relieved and turned back to the sea.

“It is beautiful here.” He said in a soft voice. Seunggi hummed in return on forced himself to continue chewing without choking for a change.

When they were done with their meal and felt somewhat sated, Seunggi suggested to go for a walk on the beach. The camera crew did not oppose and Yihao eagerly agreed, which immediately made Seunggi realise that he had made a mistake.

It was always lovely to walk on the beach in the sunset, soft sand underneath the bare feet, but it was also a mood that was exhausting to withstand with Yihao by his side.

Not able to resist the most basic of instincts of his body, Seunggi put an arm around Yihao and nearly froze because of how normal and right it felt.

“This is nice.” Yihao said, and alarm bells started ringing in Seunggi’s head at how soft he sounded.

“Yes. Not too romantic.” Seunggi said.

“Cool, cool.” Yihao laughed.

“We are cool.” Seunggi joined in.

He took his arm away and was at liberty to wonder why he had been so affected by everything about the situation when he clearly should not have been.

The walk came to an end, and they got back into their shoes. It was a comfortable silence between the two of them. Seunggi still felt calm and content due to the food, soft light, and Yihao’s presence. Whatever the next mission, he hoped to be able to do it well and then get to bed quickly.

Maybe, in bed, he would be able to think through everything he did and find some sort of answer to his weird behaviourisms.

“We did good today.” Yihao said once they were seated in the car.

Seunggi immediately felt happy hearing Yihao sounding satisfied.

“I enjoyed it too.” Seunggi answered, he was not yet able to apologise for the unfair share of work Yihao had done, but that was maybe also a thing he could do once he had had that time to think in bed.

Quite a while later, sky already pitch-black, they arrived at a spa-esque place. They parked the car and joined their director on a bench.

Seunggi looked at Yihao and was sad to see that Yihao looked tired and even a little aged. The content feeling the beach had installed had vanished, sadly.

“You look tired.” Seunggi said with a laugh.

Yihao quickly denied that, and Seunggi felt bad. In any case, he had not sounded nearly as concerned as he had meant.

Hopefully, whatever was waiting for them would give Yihao his energy back. A spa was just the place for that.

A spa truly would have been energising, but what the director had in mind was different.

Seunggi and Yihao were to do couple yoga. This was not at all what Seunggi had had in mind. He would try to do well in their mission, but he could not help feeling a little slighted as his great plan of dealing with everything he had done and experienced that day suddenly seemed overtaxed.

There would be too much to focus on for him to come to a conclusion of any kind!

Still, Seunggi was a good sport and got dressed in sport clothes. They joined other people and their female yoga instructor and got settled on the mats.

They started the yoga poses and thankfully, Seunggi did not even feel that much out of his depth. He understood the instructor well enough and followed along the flowing movements.

For the next pose, the pair of them needed to stretch facing each other. Seunggi was absolutely incapable of supressing a laugh when he saw Yihao smiling at him, which made him lose balance a little.

They were still doing well enough, even when things got serious and they needed to cooperate for doing a plank, with Seunggi holding Yihao’s ankles, and Yihao holding Seunggi’s legs high above him.

It was a shaky pose, and Seunggi was absolutely unable to hold on, when Yihao started breathing loudly to show the instructor that he was in fact breathing.

The next pose they were asked to do was Yihao standing on Seunggi’s thighs while he was squatting.

Seunggi leaned against a beam and Yihao stood on his thighs.

“You can also do it without leaning against anything.” The instructor told them.

“Yes?” Seunggi asked.

“Yes. Come over here.” The instructor pointed to the middle of the room and positioned Seunggi back into a squat.

Yihao stood in front of Seunggi and seemed unsure of what to do. Seunggi reached for his hands, and their fingers laced together as if it was in their nature.

Seunggi ignored his heating up ears and tried focussing on the task at hand.

Holding Yihao’s hands like that sadly did not seem like they would achieve any good result. Seunggi let go again and instead put his hands on Yihao’s waist.

Yihao jumped a little and turned around. He looked confused and maybe even a little flustered. That was a very pleasing sight for Seunggi actually. It felt good to know that their proximity did not only ever affect him.

After trying a couple more times, they forgot about the pose and went over to the next, which was called the superman pose.

Yihao was to balance Seunggi above him with his feet and hands. Accidentally, Yihao kicked very close to Seunggi’s manhood, but then they succeeded in the pose, Seunggi hovering over Yihao.

It was very fun to see Yihao’s concentrated face. It only supported Seunggi’s faith that he could trust Yihao with just about everything.

All yoga poses were over at some point, but it turned out that neither Seunggi nor Yihao had any real clue as to what the mission asked them to do.

They had failed, the director told them, so immediately, they went back to the poses.

Seunggi noticed that he was getting calmer at the second run through. He was more tired, but it was also a very pleasant experience to almost work together like clockwork.

This time, they even managed for Yihao to balance on Seunggi’s thighs in the middle of the room. Maybe that was the mission? To succeed in all poses?

It was not their mission to simply succeed in all poses. Seunggi actually had absolutely no idea what to do.

Desperate to do well, Seunggi and Yihao got even more quiet and communicated through squeezing each other’s hands.

Seunggi might not have known the mission, but he for sure knew that Yihao’s prolonged whispering that had an air of confiding in him, was not fair at all.

Somehow, Seunggi was still too confused and overall unfocused because of Yihao’s hands on him and his constant proximity to actually understand the mission they had been given.

In any case, they passed the mission and were now on their way to their fan.

They ended up looking for the house for a good while, but eventually, they arrived and rang the doorbell.

The fan waiting for them turned out to be Seunggi’s fan. Seunggi felt elated.

They were invited to come into the fan’s room. Yihao wanted to stay outside, but Seunggi quickly dragged him inside: “My brother, Jasper!” he exclaimed.

Seunggi would not have got anywhere without Yihao’s incredible help. Seunggi needed Yihao to be there when he met his fan.

To no one’s surprise and Seunggi’s absolute pride, his fan was very sweet and fun to talk to.

The conversation turned a little awkward when his fan talked about his smile showing his teeth was her favourite thing about him.

Throughout it all, Yihao was very sweet in encouraging the fan to speak and calming her down. Really, both Seunggi and his fan needed Yihao to be there.

Towards the end of their too short visit, Seunggi prepared something to say in Indonesian.

Saying it in Indonesian brought next to no reaction, which was disappointing and actually a little embarrassing. Yihao did not laugh outright but he did look amused.

“I will always remember you, Nadya.” Seunggi repeated in English, and now, he got the reaction he had expected.

“Thank you, Seunggi-oppa.” Nadya said to Seunggi when they were leaving.

Seunggi had told her to call him that which had been a wise decision. It felt good to have fans call him that. He felt maybe a little too validated through it, but it was still harmless all in all.

When they left the house, Yihao put an arm around his shoulder.

“Are you happy?” Yihao asked excitedly.

“Yes.” Seunggi laughed.

Yihao was genuinely interested in what it felt like to meet his fan, and he was also happy for him. Seunggi felt the same pang of guilt after making Yihao accidentally (more or less, okay?) do all the work.

This was a happy moment and not the time to apologise, so Seunggi simply enjoyed having Yihao this close and relaxed into his hold.

In the car, Seunggi buckled his seatbelt and said: “I feel sorry for you.”

“You feel sorry?” Yihao laughed, and they talked about something else. It was not yet the time to talk about it.

Seunggi had pushed away his grand plan of thinking everything through as soon as he got into his bed and decided to instead talk to Yihao at the hotel.

Changing and washing up was done in silence. They settled down into their respective beds, and Yihao yawned, smiling brightly over to Seunggi afterwards.

“I am sorry.” Seunggi said.

“Again? Why are you sorry?” Yihao asked and frowned a little.

“I did all the easy things. You had all the hard work.”

“We succeeded!” Yihao said quickly and smiled again.

“But yesterday, you ran through the temple, today, you dove underwater and drew in the hot sun…”

“You noticed?” Yihao interrupted him, his unbelievably big eyes yet a little bit bigger.

“Yes.” Seunggi answered.

“But you kept smiling so bright. Carefree.” Yihao said. He was no accusing Seunggi of anything, Seunggi was sure.

“It’s very beautiful here. I cannot not smile!” 

“It is very beautiful.” Yihao agreed.

For a moment, Seunggi thought that the conversation was over. He felt a billion times lighter and like he could at least fall asleep.

Then, Yihao spoke up again: “You called me…”

“Brother?” Seunggi interrupted him. Was that the wrong label to put on their friendship? Was Yihao uncomfortable being called Seunggi’s brother, most of all by Seunggi himself?

“Jasper.”

“Yes?” Seunggi asked, not quite following.

“Not Yihao.” Yihao said, staring at the ceiling.

“No. But both are your names, right?” Seunggi asked carefully.

“Yes.” Yihao agreed somewhat reluctantly. “I like Yihao.”

“I like Yihao too.” Seunggi answered.

Yihao turned to look at Seunggi again and smiled. “Yes, Seunggi-oppa.”

Had Seunggi thought it had been a good idea to tell Nadya to call him Seunggi-oppa? It had been a very foolish idea!

Seunggi could not possibly explain Yihao what exactly it meant, but that meant he would have to live in the fear, or rather suspenseful expectation of being called that again.

“Good night, Yihao.” Seunggi said after the later had yawned happily.

“Good night, Seunggi-oppa.”

The smile on Seunggi’s face did not fade until he fell asleep. He decided to not call this situation a problem, but to enjoy life and live as to not regret anything.


	5. Day 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still very mad at the responsible parties that Twogether cannot be found on Spotify... :)   
> Enjoy the chapter and stay safe. See you tomorrow! <3

Day 4 

Bangkok

The next morning went by without any further Seunggi-oppa incidents.

They got dressed one after the other. It was always Yihao first that went into the bathroom. Seunggi did not mind one bit, as Yihao stood up earlier to be able to take his time.

While Yihao was in the bathroom, Seunggi could either sleep on or prepare himself mentally for the rest of the day.

One of the most difficult preparation was always to prepare himself for what Yihao was going to look like.

So far, the only reason Seunggi could trace the need for that preparation back to, was his easily stirred feeling of being inadequate.

Inadequately dressed, inadequately made up, and just generally speaking, being an inadequate human being compared to Yihao.

These feelings were less bad when Seunggi took the time to prepare himself which was what he had done that morning too.

Yihao looked good, but Seunggi only greeted him with a smile and was not left in any way scarred.

The flight to Bangkok was overall very calm and comfortable. It was nice to sit next to Yihao on a plane and watch the clouds.

It felt like they had really established that bond, that went far beyond languages or even speaking at all. Sitting next to each other, living the same moment felt like communicating.

In any case, Seunggi had seldomly been happier on a flight – or at all, but he was not ready to actually admit that much.

In the airport, Seunggi and Yihao met the director in a café. They received their new instructions. Yihao actually tried to cheat a little and was more daring and almost cheeky than before which made Seunggi embarrassingly proud. Yihao had learned well from him.

Yihao’s attempts and Seunggi’s more open try of cheating did not get them any bonuses, but they were happy and in a good mood in the taxi that would take them to Rambuttri road for their first set of missions.

At first, they were not talking much, letting Thailand leave impressions on them. Seunggi was actually getting a little sleepy. That was both the wrong time and the wrong place. They would need to have energy for their missions, and Seunggi did not want to annoy Yihao with falling asleep next or even worse on him.

Seunggi leaned back and sighed contently. “What a week.” He said.

“Yes. Very fast and tight week.”

“Exciting.” Seunggi agreed.

“We have seen so much.” Yihao said. He also sounded a little tired, but then, he suddenly started slapping his knee, bopping his head along.

Seunggi was confused at first, but then started smiling. “The rhythm?” he asked.

“Yes.” Yihao replied somewhat sheepishly.

“Let’s do it together.” Seunggi said and clapped his hands to their theme song. Yihao followed along, forehead wrinkly because he was concentrating so much.

They went through the song humming and clapping two times before Yihao seemed satisfied enough.

Seunggi could not help admiring Yihao for working so hard and for being this talented!

All Seunggi was going to do was sing, while Yihao needed to play the guitar and sing a little too.

Seunggi could also not miss of adorable his nervousness was, but he still hoped to calm Yihao down.

What he wanted to do most was do well with the song so that Yihao’s hard work paid off.

They arrived at the destination and walked somewhat aimlessly until they were shown into a restaurant where they had to play tourists for a chance to eat something.

Yihao repeated a couple of times how hungry he was which spurned Seunggi on to do well, but luck was not exactly on their side at first.

Seunggi lost a beer drinking contest against three Austrian girls. Yihao looked distraught at that, and Seunggi desperately wanted to do better the next time around, but they also lost flicking bottle caps against a man from London.

Yihao was hungry, Seunggi knew that, but somehow, he could not turn their luck around.

“Seunggi-ya.” Seunggi said to himself. “You should have flicked harder.”

“Seunggi-ya.” Yihao addressing him like that left a funny feeling in the pit of Seunggi’s stomach and he was only able to smile a little.

“I am hungry.” Yihao continued in the cutest Korean Seunggi had ever heard. Then, as if that had not yet been enough, Yihao leaned on Seunggi’s shoulder.

He was probably delirious with the lack of food.

The next game, they miraculously won. Luck was on their side in a watered-down (literally!) version of beer-pong.

The game was a lot of fun and winning felt good.

“Cheers!” Yihao and Seunggi said to each other, and Seunggi decided not to fight the urge to pull Yihao closer.

Next, they thumb-wrestled for food. Only Yihao would apologise for winning fair and square.

The euphoric high they were on left them immediately when they lost abominably in thigh wrestling.

The next tourists they met were a couple. An Irish girl and Korean boy. The Korean boy was funny. Seunggi thought it was nice to see a bilingual couple work.

“What are the good and bad things about the different cultures?” Seunggi asked, genuinely interested.

Having different cultures meet was the good side, but as not to cause a fight, Seunggi did not get to hear about the downside.

He would have liked to be aware of dangers – of a totally and completely hypothetical relationship that was something like that.

The bilingual couple was the last they played against and then, they finally got to taste the sweet merits of their hard work. It was time to eat.

The food was good, especially as famished as they were.

The next destination, Seunggi and Yihao went to via a tuktuk. They each had another bottle of beer, and that was why Seunggi thought it nearly bearable to be this close to Yihao.

Seunggi noticed a little unhappily, that he had sweated a lot while playing all sorts of different mini games, while Yihao still looked like he could immediately walk a runway.

Seunggi would advise him against doing that because he looked quite tired, but he still looked untainted.

Maybe, Seunggi needed to accept that he would never see Yihao looking anything else.

The ride in the tuktuk was longer than Seunggi had anticipated. His energy and even the buzz from the beer slowly left him.

Seunggi leaned slightly over to Yihao to signalise that he wanted to talk to him.

“I have never had such a trip with friends.”

“What trip?” Yihao asked.

“A trip into foreign countries like the Austrian girls.” Seunggi sighed.

“No.”

Seunggi sighed. Yihao was too understanding that Seunggi immediately felt bad.

“I know that I have been very fortunate. Incredibly so.” Seunggi sighed again.

“You are lucky.” Yihao agreed. “You are also happy.”

Seunggi smiled before he knew he was doing so. “Yes.”

“You are grateful.”

“Yes, actually.” Seunggi agreed.

“You did not travel with friends like them.”

“No.”

“But now, you have me.” Yihao grinned at him.

“Yes.” Seunggi felt comforted by Yihao’s words. He was content and happy. The vague regret he had felt before was completely gone and replaced by gratitude which was mainly due to Yihao’s faith in his gratefulness.

The tuktuk came to a stop and Yihao and Seunggi were sent onto a market. A beautiful lit, and for the lack of a better word at that time of day, an atmospheric market.

“Wow! This is romantic.” Yihao said. Seunggi made the mistake of looking at Yihao and saw his sparkling eyes.

“We always go to romantic places.” Seunggi should just give up on his brain delivering something of a sensical speech.

The market was romantic, and they had been to several romantic places, but did that really mean that Seunggi had to point that out to Yihao? It wasn’t even a bad thing either.

Their dolls greeted them at an ominous looking stall which turned out to be for axe-throwing. The man in charge, Ryan, first seemed scary but then smiled brightly at them.

The first attempt of axe throwing did not end well at all. They lost, but Yihao also accidentally tore down the banner of the stall. He visibly felt terrible and was rooted to the spot. Seunggi also only hovered around him, but Yihao’s eyes went rounder, possibly thinking of ways to make amends.

They quickly paid for a second match and got started. Seunggi did not throw abominably but did force Yihao to try and hit the 7 points. Ryan also acknowledged that that was difficult, so Seunggi simply had to knead Yihao’s shoulders for encouragement.

That was the normal and really the only thing to do in that situation.

Somehow, neither of them knew how, Yihao did manage to hit the 7 points bang on.

Yihao cheered and simply threw his arms around Seunggi. Seunggi held him tight.

It was a marvellous feeling to hold Yihao and to have him hold onto him. It was a feeling that in an ideal world would never stop.

They were, however, in the real world, so the hug had to end at some point.

Reluctantly, Seunggi let go and tried to focus on the next steps.

They had won the mission but then they spotted another golden key around Ryan’s neck. A golden key was a chance you couldn’t pass up on, so they agreed to do what was required of them, which was to go busk on the community stage.

Seunggi felt his nerves. He had never done something quite like this. He glanced over at Yihao. He looked more nervous than Seunggi felt, which warmed Seunggi’s heart.

Alone, they would both have had to fight, but together, he was sure, they could do it. Of course, they could!

There were quite a few people in the tent, in front of the stage. Seunggi fumbled with the microphone and clumsily introduced himself. Yihao followed suit, and they were off.

Seunggi took a deep breath and started clapping. He relied heavily on Yihao telling him that he needed his clapping. It gave him agency. It felt good to do something to help Yihao, as it made Seunggi more aware that they were in this together and that they were in fact a very good team.

Yihao started playing the guitar and after a few bars, Seunggi joined with the Korean, English, and at the end Mandarin lyrics.

I wanted to leave

Wanted to let go off my repetitive life

My youth is currently disappearing

And it will never come back

If you and I do it together

We can go anywhere

It’s gonna be alright

Don’t worry

It’s a piece of cake

It’s gonna be alright

Just enjoy the future

That is coming to you

Let go of all the nervousness

Right here

You and I together

We can overcome anything

It’s gonna be alright

We go through the long tunnels

I laughed

Amidst all the frustration

‘Let’s do this one more time!’

I encouraged myself

No matter what you do

Don’t regret it, let’s leave right now

It’s gonna be alright

Don’t worry.

It’s a piece of cake

It’s gonna be alright 

Just enjoy the future that is coming to you

Let go off all the nervousness right here

You and I together

We can overcome anything

It’s gonna be alright

Especially the last phrases in Mandarin were a lot of fun to sing. Seunggi felt very good after busking.

They had performed well, and Yihao’s hard work had definitely paid off.

“Good performance. Good job!” Ryan told them when they got off stage. He behaved like a real gentleman.

Seunggi and Yihao hug briefly. Way too briefly, but Seunggi had already known before that any hug that did not exceed infinite was going to be too brief.

“Awesome! I love your song!” Yihao said, sparkling eyes (that had developed into some sort of problem for Seunggi, as it seemed).

“I believe in you!” Seunggi said in Chinese which always ensured him a smile from Yihao.

Ryan smiled at them and handed them the golden key. Together, they hugged Ryan and were on their way to their hotel, both in desperate need of sleep.

In the car, Seunggi suddenly started singing the last bits of the song.

“You and I together. We can overcome anything.” Seunggi sang in Mandarin and Yihao joined in. It was nice to sing with him, on stage just as much as in the car where it was basically just the two of them.

“I was very afraid to sing the song on stage.” Yihao admitted, head leaning against the headrest.

Seunggi was a little thrown at the confiding tone and soft voice Yihao spoke in but quickly caught himself again and tried teaching Yihao some of his singing techniques.

“Use the whole body to create more space.” Seunggi explained. “And throw the voice something like 10 meters away!”

Yihao diligently followed Seunggi’s instructions and sang the lines again.

His voice already sounded fuller and more powerful, much to Yihao’s own amazement. It was adorable to see his eyes light up at that.

The rest of the journey to the hotel was not quite as strenuous on Seunggi’s nerves. Yihao hummed for a short while, but self-consciously stopped soon. Seunggi was itching to ask him to continue, but that would have caused even more of a turmoil inside him, and that was sadly not worth it.

Yihao certainly also deserved a break, and Seunggi did not need to make him entertain them.

They arrived at the hotel and were shown to a room they had once again booked under Seunggi’s name. Yihao was always happy with the suggestions and decisions Seunggi made, so Seunggi had long ago decided to take charge and be responsible for most of the planning of their trips.

In the room, there was one big bed, easily fitting two. Seunggi’s heart was already racing for unidentifiable reasons, when he walked a few steps and saw a smaller bed.

In order not to fall asleep and somehow have his mind conjure up the image of Yihao holding him, Seunggi quickly opted for the smaller bed.

Settling only took a short while. After that, Seunggi got them both a can of beer.

Yihao accepted it and looked closely at the label on the can. All of a sudden, he started speaking: “This is really my first time. I want to remember all the things. This is really fresh. Thank you, my roommate, my Twogether friend.”

Seunggi glanced over to Yihao, who was still looking at the label.

“Beer.” Seunggi added to Yihao’s small speech.

“You!” Yihao called immediately.

“Ah me?” Seunggi was genuinely surprised and touched. “Thank you! You were looking at the beer.”

“I am talking to you.” Yihao said earnestly. He looked up and seemed to stare someplace deep behind Seunggi’s eyes. He did feel warmer, but not uncomfortable.

Yihao was the one to break the eye-contact and went to drink his beer. Seunggi followed him until he excused himself to take a shower.

When he came back, the door separating the two beds was shut. Seunggi felt inadequately sad about that for a moment, until he was relieved to not have been given the chance to stare at a sleeping Yihao.

With the beers Seunggi had had over the evening, he would not have been able to keep the staring to a bare minimum. He needed to have energy the next day though, so no opportunity to stare was truly best.


	6. Day 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5 is way too short, so I will also upload Day 6. :) Enjoy! <3

Day 5 

Bangkok 

Seunggi woke up the next morning due to his alarm clock. It felt miles better, he realised, to be woken by Yihao softly bustling around. It could not be helped, though.

Seunggi sighed a little and stood up. He went to the bathroom, guessing correctly that Yihao had already been there.

When he got back this time, the door was open again.

“Good morning.” Yihao greeted him.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Seunggi asked.

“Yes, still a little too short.”

“It was a wise decision to close the door. You did not have to suffer through my snoring at least.”

“No!” Yihao said quickly.

“Mh?”

“I don’t mind. I closed the door because I wake you in the morning.”

“Oh. There was no need! I like to wake up that way.”

“Really?” Yihao asked.

“Yes.”

“Really?” Yihao repeated in Korean.

Seunggi laughed. “Yes. Really.”

“I will not close the door again.” Yihao said.

“Good.” Seunggi smiled, and promptly ruined the moment with yawning.

Seunggi and Yihao quickly agreed to take a driver to take them to their next location. They were too tired to drive. They were a little dramatic towards the director claiming to have been sure to die without the driver, but they were both actors, after all.

The location for their next mission was the floating market Damnoen Saduak. They were swiftly equipped with lifejackets and were sent out on a small boat, steered by a local.

They had to find their little dolls and win in rock, paper, scissors-matches against the shop keepers.

Yihao looked funny and adorable more than gorgeous for a very refreshing change.

“Fashionable, Mr Model.” Seunggi could not resist saying.

“You look pretty too.” Yihao said and immediately destroyed the smallest hint of superiority Seunggi had hoped for with his remark.

Accepting defeat, Seunggi got into the boat behind Yihao, and they started looking out for their dolls.

Yihao lost the matches a couple of times and was frustrated and unhappy about that which immediately made Seunggi be extra cheerful to both make up for that and more importantly cheer Yihao up.

When Seunggi tried to somewhat cheat a tiny little bit, but the director immediately intervened, Yihao was immediately by his side, calling the director a bad guy.

Having his support was worth a lot more than succeeding to cheat would have been.

At some point, they got out of their lifejackets with their director’s consent and started jamming along to their OST – without their director’s consent.

They lost once more but got to buy a hat as a present for their fan, and at the next stall, they finally won! Yihao was elated, and Seunggi was just as happy. They got to take their doll and returned to the starting point.

Sooner than Seunggi could actually have hoped for, they were on their way to meet their fan.

It took some wandering around the neighbourhood and some getting lost before they arrived at their fan’s house, which turned out to be Yihao’s fan.

Yihao gestured towards Seunggi after his first greeting and said: “Let me introduce my best friend. We travel together.”

Seunggi felt warm and could understand no one better than the fan that wanted to be alone with Yihao, leaving Seunggi on the terrasse to talk to her grandmother.

A couple of people came along and wanted to take a picture with Seunggi. He liked taking pictures and did not have anything better to do anyways, so he took all the pictures the people wanted.

It was fun meeting this many people in the front yard of someone’s house in a foreign country, but Seunggi was still relieved and happy when Yihao returned.

As soon as Yihao sat back down, he gesticulated towards the neighbourhood and told Seunggi what they had been doing.

Seunggi smiled and with no concerns whatsoever, no matter how ludicrous, he was able to be his, hopefully charming self.

In the end, Seunggi was even asked to sing for the grandmother, which he gladly did. He had chosen poorly and started laughing singing the romantic lyrics to her, but he was still positive that he had sung well.

When saying goodbye, hugs were exchanged all around. Seunggi hugged the grandmother. Suddenly, Yihao reached towards the grandmother, effectively back-hugging Seunggi.

Seunggi was almost 100% certain that that should neither have felt as comforting nor nice as it had.

Back on the street, Yihao put his arm around Seunggi’s shoulder and excitedly shared how happy meeting fans made him.

Seunggi listened and even answered while still marvelling just why it always felt so good when Yihao hugged him.

Chiang Mai

Having packed all things in the morning, they immediately got whisked off to the airport.

Both of them were worn out and tired once they arrived there. There was not much left to do that day, but Seunggi felt like dropping off to sleep on the sport would still not be appreciated by the director.

A very kind girl turned out to be their saviour when she handed them both an Iced Americano after calling out: “Starbucks!”

Strengthened by the coffee, they got into a taxi and continued to sip on their coffees.

Yihao teased Seunggi a little about being so desperate for coffee, but the caffeine made it possible for Seunggi to let the teasing wash off him without letting it affect him.

Then again, Yihao obviously did not tease in a malicious was, so not raising to the bait was hardly a great evidence of character strength.

“Today, we can have a good, good, gooooood sleep.” Yihao said, dropping his head against the headrest.

“A deep sleep.” Seunggi agreed, barely supressing the yawn.

As always in the evening, Seunggi and Yihao were called to a seat by the director before they were allowed to go sleep.

This time, the director had some exciting news to share with them. He started with telling them that so far, they had always worked together.

Seunggi held his breath in anticipation and sure enough, the director said: “Now, you are going to compete against each other. You will not travel together but compete.”

Yihao turned to look at Seunggi, and Seunggi also put his full attention on Yihao.

“Compete?” Yihao asked.

“Fight against each other.” Seunggi said, banging his knuckles against each other.

“No! He is dangerous!” Yihao called, turning to the director, and Seunggi laughed. Yihao was adorable.

“You are going to compete and only the one who wins in the end will get to meet the fan.” The director explained in some more detail.

“But if it is Yihao’s fan and I win?” Seunggi asked.

“Then you are going to meet the fan and give Yihao’s greetings.”

“I think I will win.” Seunggi said, a tad more confident than he actually felt.

“You are a good person, but your eyes do not look like a good person.” Yihao whined.

“Game is game!” Seunggi answered cheerfully. If his somewhat pretend competitiveness brought out Yihao’s own competitiveness, he was doing everything right.

Next, Seunggi and Yihao were asked to split their money fairly. Seunggi weakly attempt to initiate some cheating with saying imploringly: “You trust me, I trust you.”, but Yihao was not fooled this time.

Yihao took the money and split it fairly, actually giving him one bill more.

“I trust you.” Yihao said. 

Seunggi felt good hearing that. It was also a shame though, because he already knew that he would be physically unable to play completely fairly. Yihao was too trusting and kind for Seunggi not to try and take shortcuts and overtake him.

After bantering a tiny bit more and stirring a proper fighting spirit both within himself and Yihao, they were sent to bed – in different rooms.

Seunggi washed up and lay down in bed. He had been almost deliriously tired before, but now, he could not seem to fall asleep.

It was weird not to have Yihao’s presence around him. He would not exactly go as far as saying that he missed Yihao, but he would have certainly preferred to have him next to him.

Seunggi fell asleep, his mind completely in duel mode. It was sensible of the staff to put them into two different rooms. How should Seunggi develop his cunning strategies when looking at how adorable Yihao was and how bad it would feel to fool him. The staff had certainly helped him.


	7. Day 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 it is! Enjoy the chapter and do give the music by Day6 a listen too, they are amazing! :)

Day 6

Chiang Mai

The next morning, Seunggi had set himself an early alarm in order to get a head start.

It was certainly nicer to wake up to Yihao being busy in the morning, but this was manageable and necessary. Seunggi wanted to win, and if he was lenient now, he would not get that drive the entire day.

Seunggi spoke to the staff and was dressed and on his way early enough.

On his way to the motorbikes, Seunggi spotted an open door with Yihao’s clothes inside. Yihao was also awake by now and was getting dressed.

Something evil inside Seunggi made him tie a way too easily to find metal band around the doorknob to temporarily lock Yihao in.

Quickly and not making too much noise, Seunggi got onto his designated motorbike and set out to the first location.

Driving a car with Yihao next to him was even more fun that having the wind play around him on the motorbike, though.

Soon, Seunggi arrived at the location and ran to where the director was sitting. He was eager to start and excited that his plan had worked out.

What he had not expected was for the director to say: “We will wait for Yihao to start.”

“No.” Surely, the director was joking.

“Yes.” The director laughed. “You will start at the same time.”

“But I am here first!”

“You will get benefits for that.”

“Amazing…” Seunggi rubbed his forehead and laughed. “I locked Yihao in thinking this was a race.”

“You locked him in?”

“Yes. In the bathroom.”

The director shook his head and tried not to laugh too openly. “Unbelievable.”

Not soon after Seunggi’s confession, the director motioned towards the other end of the cliff. Seunggi turned around and spotted Yihao.

“Yihao! I waited for you!” he called over to him, and also when Yihao joined them, he did not try to be any more honest.

Seunggi gave Yihao a drink to play overly nice. Obviously, Yihao did not get exactly fooled by that.

“When I washed up, the door was locked, Seunggi-ssi.” Yihao said.

“What?” Seunggi turned towards the director, who rolled with his eyes. There was no use pretending he was innocent after that. He grinned at Yihao, and to his great relief, Yihao even grinned back, not at all holding a grudge.

Why did Yihao have to be so nice and forgiving? Had he not been, Seunggi might have finally learned a lesson and might have actually approached this competition in a fairer way.

The mission, as the director explained was to jump off either an 8 or a 15m cliff and then ride on to the next spot. Seunggi did not get the advantage of choosing the height to jump from but only got to try out the water bike that would determine the winner that would get to choose the height.

Yihao seemed not terribly reconciled by that. He was quiet and evidently suspenseful because of the task of jumping into the water.

Seunggi did not feel like he needed to jump off a cliff to have led a fulfilling life, but he was certainly not as scared as Yihao.

He used his comparative fearlessness to give off a confident air and hopefully create an atmosphere that allowed Yihao to relax a little too.

The water bike was certainly more difficult and complex than their teacher made it out to be.

Seunggi used his two tries unsuccessfully. He landed in the water every time he attempted to ride the water bike.

He did not like failing and it was not pleasant to feel the metal bike drag you underwater, but Yihao’s happy laugh as background noise to his failure was actually rather pleasant.

The director counted for them and the challenge started. Seunggi immediately sank with his water bike again, while Yihao somehow managed to actually move forward with just as much grace as their teacher had shown them.

“Seunggi-ssi, I love you!” Yihao called while Seunggi was gasping for air after swallowing a bit of water.

Yihao was not playing fair, evidently adding insult to injury, or rather embarrassment to shame, or something.

When Yihao tried returning from the platform, he also sank which made Seunggi feel better.

“I was lucky!” Yihao sighed as he was thrown a line that would pull him back to the shore.

Yihao steered the water bike towards Seunggi and grabbed his hand to pull him back too. Holding Yihao’s hand like that nearly made Seunggi forget about having lost and evidently having to jump off the higher cliff.

But only almost!

When they were standing again, Seunggi made another attempt of the water bike and failed, which was disheartening.

He turned to Yihao and asked: “Can you show me again?”

Yihao nodded and solemnly tried to repeat his success. He sank again, and something evil shone through in Seunggi.

“I’ll go first, Yihao!” Seunggi called and ran towards the higher cliff.”

Really, this was Yihao’s fault. He could have just said he would not show Seunggi again. Seunggi had not resisted the temptation, to be fair, but he could not exactly be blamed for that could he?

Seunggi ran uphill and soon, he heard Yihao following after him, calling out: “I am a fool!”

Seunggi loved to hear Yihao speak Korean in all instances apart from this one. Yihao was not a fool. Seunggi was sad hearing him say that, actually, but he could not just turn back now – he had taken the route of a fraud.

When running got too much in the heat, and Seunggi’s inner voice of reminding him that this was all a game they originally started together got louder and louder, he stopped and actually waited for Yihao.

Yihao might need some form of support in battling his fear of heights too.

“Why did you lie to me again?” Yihao asked when he joined Seunggi.

“No! I waited for you?”

“Really?” Yihao really was very gullible.

Seunggi did want to support Yihao and be there for him, but additionally, another cunning plan had formed in his mind.

“Accompany me to the 15m spot.” Seunggi said.

“Why?” Yihao grinned.

“It is a totally different view. A different feeling! Just watch!” Seunggi promised – it was a little concerning that he had no problem being this outrightly deceiving.

“Okay.” Yihao agreed and they set off.

They climbed the cliff and looked into the distance and shortly into the water down below too. 15 meters certainly were no joke.

“You are my brother.” Yihao said when he stepped away from the edge again. “I love you. I really love you!”

Seunggi’s heart was beating fast. Yihao hugged him and Seunggi could feel that his heart was beating fast too. He knew that his was beating fast because of fear and adrenaline, which was an amazing cover for Seunggi’s own fast beating heart that could not be explained quite as rationally.

Even if Yihao’s words had made him feel some kind of way, or maybe because of that, Seunggi had the strength to deceive Yihao again.

“We’ll jump together.” Seunggi told Yihao who nodded eagerly, seeming relieved.

Seunggi had to ignore that. He waited until Yihao was something like halfway back before he shouted: “I am going first, Yihao!”

He threw the camera high up into the air and jump after it.

“Seunggi-ssi!” was the last thing Seunggi heard before he hit the water.

Seunggi felt his body still trembling a little when he came back to the surface. He calmed down slowly and swam to where he could crawl out of the water.

Yihao was still lingering at the jump.

“You can do it!” Seunggi called up to him. “Come on, Yihao!”

It took a couple more encouragements and sincere promises that the jump was not all that terrifying before Yihao bravely took the leap.

Seunggi was very proud of Yihao for conquering his fear like that. He cheered but then quickly got on his way to make use of his current first position.

When Seunggi was dressed again, he went to where he had parked the motorbike. To his horror, his key was missing. He looked around frantically, not remembering having locked it.

Then he saw that the other motorbike which Yihao must have taken was unlocked with the key in the ignition.

Yihao had learned from him and played a prank with locking his motorbike, but he had not evolved quite to his level yet, luckily.

Without a second thought, Seunggi climbed onto the yellow motorbike and set out to grab something to eat.

He had buckets and buckets of time and decided to eat leisurely.

A very nice couple was sitting across him in the first restaurant and insisted on paying for parts of his meal. In return, Seunggi sang a little for them and then went to have noodles and ice cream with the money he had effectively just saved.

While eating the ice cream, Seunggi got a call from Yihao. He felt happiness spreading through him, simply because this was the first time they spoke on the phone.

Yihao’s voice sounded very nice on the phone, but not nice enough to make Seunggi completely lose focus.

Yihao said he was still eating, but Seunggi decided to not tell the exact truth of him already being somewhat done with eating. He lied a little more, which would hardly make a difference now.

“Eat slowly! Enjoy! Thank you, bye, bye.” Yihao said in a soft voice and hung up. Seunggi smiled but managed to focus after all.

He finished the ice cream and got on his way to the next spot, a university.

Seunggi arrived at the university and had to discover that Yihao was already there. He had thought that he had been very clever with his lying, but for once, Yihao had clearly been one step ahead of him.

Seunggi did not like losing, but now, he only felt proud of Yihao and his newly discovered cunning ways.

The mission, so Seunggi was told, was to play takraw in teams, for which Seunggi needed to create a team. Yihao had already created his and was ready to play.

Seunggi expressed his confidence in Korean man being able to play games with holding up balls with their feet well and got ready.

Seunggi was doing well, and Yihao was not quite so coordinated. Seunggi easily won a point against him.

Yihao was still smiling and very pretty, which only stressed the point that Seunggi deserved to win the game, as Yihao was incredibly disruptive.

To not let anyone suspect anything, Seunggi returned to his over-confident demeanour and told his teammates to focus on the weak link of the game which was clearly Yihao.

At some point in the very enthusiastic game, Seunggi pulled his leg up too high and therefore ripped his pants. That was ridiculous, and fun, but also embarrassing and inconvenient.

“Can I change my pants?” Seunggi asked the director, who nodded, rolling his eyes.

Yihao came running towards him with his bag and handed him a pair of jeans.

“Borrow mine?” Yihao asked.

“Thank you!” Seunggi said and accepted the jeans a little baffled.

He jogged off the place and into the changing room to change into the jeans Yihao had lent him. Seunggi felt his ears getting warmer. He slapped his face a couple of times, but quickly noticed that that would hardly hide a potential blush.

He quickly went over to the tap and drank water and tried to stare the blush away from his face in the mirror.

Seunggi could not stay in the changing room forever. He pulled the sweatband over his ears and ran back to the field, telling himself that he could still win this game.

Soon after that incident, Seunggi got his ace on the field and cheered at what a good move that had been. The ace played very well. A particularly amazing ball hit the back of the head of one of Yihao’s teammates.

Seunggi celebrated the point with his teammates, while he clearly saw how Yihao immediately went to take care of the hurt player.

After Seunggi had called his ace on the field, the match was no longer between Yihao and Seunggi, but between their respective aces.

Yihao did get a hang of the game and actually managed to block a ball.

“Well done, Jasper!” Seunggi called over to him, not actually actively trying to mess with him, but still very pleased with the result his comment brought forward. Yihao frowned at being called Jasper and played a little less well.

At the end of the game, Seunggi’s team managed to win. As a result, Seunggi got to choose the activity he would get to do.

He was presented with the two options and had to stop himself from smiling widely. He could either go and cook or draw. Yihao had repeatedly said how much he liked to draw, and Seunggi loved to cook.

He was sure that even if it had been Yihao that won the game, he would have chosen the same.

A small advantage was that Seunggi got to leave a little earlier than Yihao. Now, this was really all about speed and who got to the fan’s house first. Seunggi would not lose, so he focused solely on his own task at hand.

“Good luck, Yihao.” Seunggi said, indirectly calling out truce between them, with not calling him Jasper again, even if Seunggi really liked that name too.

Seunggi formed his plan of what to cook on the way to the cooking course. The cook showing him things and supervising him was full of praise for Seunggi’s cooking.

Seunggi knew that he could cook well, but all sort of acknowledgment was always welcome.

With the dishes done and packed up, Seunggi quickly got on his way and tried finding the fan’s house. On his way there, with the occasional waft of the things he had cooked, Seunggi decided that he would really like to cook something for Yihao.

Yihao had done a lot for him already and it would be a good thing to show his appreciation for their friendship.

Seunggi had cooked for his girlfriends before too and they had always liked that, so Yihao would probably appreciate it too.

The fan they had competed over to meet turned out to be the girl that had got them Starbucks coffee at the airport and, most importantly, she was Seunggi’s fan.

Talking to her was very easy and it felt like the necessary reward for the difficult day he had had.

Seunggi gave the hat they had bought in Bangkok and his sunglasses from the trip to his fan. In return, she gave him a patterned shirt and for Yihao a bag in the same pattern.

At some point during the conversation, Seunggi received a call from Yihao.

“This is Jasper, my friend!” he excitedly told his fan.

He answered it quickly, unhappy that his heart was beating fast. This was, after all, already the second time they were talking on the phone.

Another thing that made Seunggi unhappy or at least a little confused was that he felt happier hearing Yihao speak. He had already started to miss him, even if they had only been apart for a couple of hours at most.

This did not give him a lot of hope for the week back at home that was to come.

“It’s my fan!” Seunggi told Yihao.

“What a relief!” Yihao said in Korean, making Seunggi laugh.

Yihao and Seunggi’s fan chatted a little on the phone. When Seunggi was back at the speaker, he decided to have some more fun and tease Yihao.

“You can go to the airport now.” Seunggi said. “You can check in the ticket for me.”

“Of course.” Yihao said, and Seunggi was happy to note that he knew Yihao well enough to know that there was a begrudging note to his voice.

When it was time for Seunggi to leave his fan and get to the airport, she started crying and Seunggi was moved to tears too.

This trip was certainly one of the best things he has ever done. Meeting fans this personally was a lovely treat for everyone, but saying goodbye was probably made even harder.

He hugged his fan tightly before he was rushing to the airport.

This week had certainly been a whirlwind. He was happier than he had thought he could be. He would have to part ways with Yihao for now, but it was very reassuring to know that he yet had to finish the trip. He would come back to Yihao, so the separation would be bearable.

Luckily, Seunggi was too tired in the taxi on his way to the airport to really understand the meaning of his thoughts.

He focused on the important bits which was that he was tired but content.

Seunggi arrived at the airport and got out of the car. He walked over the parking lot and saw an unmistakably tall man with a guitar on his back.

“Jasper?” Seunggi called. This really was only a slip of the tongue.

“Yes?”

“Were you waiting here?” Seunggi asked. He had expected Yihao to be sat down in the airport somewhere, not outside, standing for god knew how long.

Yihao hugged Seunggi when he reached him, which was always a nice feeling.

“Yes.” Yihao said cheerfully, if a little tiredly too. “How was your date?”

That question took Seunggi a little off guard. He laughed out of reflex and said something about it being very nice.

Why had the question surprised him? Why had he not liked being asked that question by Yihao?

Seunggi managed to focus again when the director quizzed them on the next place they would visit, which was Nepal, which both of them obviously remembered.

First, they would go separate ways though. Seunggi had the suspicion that it was because of his schedules that they needed to take a break from the trip. He felt a little bad about that, but actually also relieved.

If the last two days of the trips would have happened right now, the whole adventure would have been over even quicker.

Like this, he had something of a mercy break.

“Let’s go home.” Yihao said in Korean and put his arm around Seunggi’s shoulder. Totally on its own accord, Seunggi’s arm also wound around Yihao’s shoulder.

“Let’s go home.” Seunggi agreed in Korean.

Seunggi did not notice for how long Yihao had kept his arm around his shoulder. Only when he let go for the check in, did Seunggi notice because he suddenly felt cold and uncomfortable.

It became even more evident that he did not want part ways with Yihao.

After the check in, they needed to wait for their respective flights. They sat down next to each other, knees bumping against each other.

“I was nearly at the fan’s house.” Yihao told Seunggi.

“Really?”

“Yes, but then the man took me into a car and then the airport.” Yihao said, pouting a little.

“Poor thing.” Seunggi laughed. “Lucky, that it was my fan!”

“Yes!” Yihao nodded and smiled brightly.

They stayed silent for a while. Yihao was mustering Seunggi which sent both hot and cold showers over Seunggi’s back for some inexplicable reason.

“Your hair isn’t wet.” Yihao stated.

“Should it be?” Seunggi laughed nervously.

“Mine is wet.” Yihao said. He grabbed Seunggi’s hand and put it into his hair.

“Oh.”

“It rained on my way to the painting class.” Yihao said.

“Did it?” Seunggi asked. He did feel bad for Yihao. He had worked incredibly hard, not only today, but all other days too, but it still seemed like he was more attached to misfortunes than Seunggi.

“I am sorry.” Seunggi said, carefully patting Yihao’s head.

“Only a little wet.” Yihao said after a beat and smiled at Seunggi.

Seunggi took his hand away, he was not exactly uncomfortable. It was more like he was once again made uncomfortable by how comfortable he was.

Yihao’s locks were a little damp still, but the parts that were dry were very soft. Too soft, Seunggi thoughts, for spending a week in multiple different places.

“Do you have to work a lot when you get home?” Seunggi asked Yihao.

“Not much.” Yihao answered. “You?”

“Commercials.” Seunggi suppressed a sigh. There were no cameras on them currently, but he still liked to give off a professional air.

“You will do well.” Yihao said.

It was not like Seunggi had doubted that he would do well, and yet, Yihao’s belief in him surprised him considerably.

“Thank you.”

They chatted in small bursts every now and then until Yihao’s flight was called up. Seunggi was happy to not leave Yihao behind and make him wait longer.

“I will see you in Nepal.” Yihao said and pulled Seunggi into another hug.

“Yes. See you.” Seunggi said, patting Yihao’s back on what he hoped was only the verge of awkwardness.

Waiting for his own flight after he had seen Yihao leave was difficult. Tiredness overtook his mind and keeping his eyes open was suddenly a proper task.

Eventually, his flight was announced too, and Seunggi got up. It was a reconciliation that now, every step he took brought him closer to home.


	8. Day 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy and have a nice day! :)

Day 7

Nepal 

After a week at home, Seunggi was able to be honest to himself. He would not be able to admit to this in front of any other person, but to himself, for once, he managed to be honest and open.

Seunggi had missed Yihao. He had not exactly felt lonely for the majority of the day – he had been too busy for that. But especially in the evening, after he had got used to having Yihao as company, he felt weird on his own.

Even if him and Yihao had not always talked much, it had been very pleasant to have someone in the same boat as yourself.

Seunggi did not quite know the exact reason for missing Yihao, but he did know that, for only having got to know Yihao for five days, he was missing him too much.

Yihao was a gorgeous person, inside and out.

Seunggi still felt uncomfortable thinking about the prejudices he had had about the Chinese actor but managed to reconcile himself a little with telling himself that Yihao should not have noticed any preconception on Seunggi’s part.

As long as Yihao had been comfortable throughout the trip, Seunggi did not need to reproach himself terribly.

The worst thing about the week at home was surprisingly the last free afternoon Seunggi had before he would leave for Nepal the next morning.

He had not been able to form many cohesive thoughts over the past week, and now, he was essentially paralysed by the load of them.

Seunggi went through the moments they had shared. Looking back at the experiences they had had, it was even more evident how many romantic places they had visited together. Seunggi felt his heart beating faster remembering the many wishes he had sent off, and the calmness he had experienced deep inside himself walking over the night market with Yihao.

To be fair, then, he had also jittered considerably. He had been nervous and excited, but beneath it all, he had felt comfortable and disinclined to change anything about the situation.

Seunggi had no idea where these thoughts came from and what they meant. His mind frustrated him a little with being too foggy for his liking, so once again, he decided on the easy part, which was that he was excited and happy to see Yihao again.

He was also a little nervous because he could not be certain that it would not be awkward, but mainly, he was just excited.

With somewhat similar thoughts, Seunggi eventually managed to make himself fall asleep.

The next morning, before getting whisked off to Nepal, Seunggi went to a supermarket to buy an array of things he wanted to cook for Yihao. He had formed that thought in his mind and had even said as much to his manager who had passed the message on to the director.

It was not easy to choose, but Seunggi decided he was fine with going all out, anyways.

He finished his shopping, went to the airport, and was on his way to Nepal.

Their way to Nepal first brought them to Pokhara. There, a flight would take them to Nepal.

Seunggi arrived first and was told to wait until Yihao joined them.

The weather was not exactly amazing in Pokhara, but it was fine waiting outside. Seunggi got a little jittery and looked around frequently.

“Are you alright?” the director asked him.

“It feels exciting and awkward.” Seunggi confessed. He was too honest maybe, but then, there was no way he could have monitored what he said.

Seunggi continued looking for Yihao. Embarrassingly enough, when he did spot Yihao, his heart leaped in his chest.

“I see a good-looking man over there!” Seunggi said.

He probably should have filtered that too, but anyone laying eyes on Yihao would inevitably have to agree with him. And as long as he was speaking a universal truth, there was no dire need to filter his words.

“Yo! Yihao!” Seunggi called over to Yihao who was at the other end of the pedestrian crossing.

“Seunggi-oppa!” Yihao called back which was absolutely not fair.

Seunggi’s heart was now beating even faster. There was no way he could go into detail about that and think about what that really meant.

There was, after all, an excited Yihao running his way.

Seunggi sped up too and allowed himself to fall into Yihao’s arms while simultaneously catching Yihao who was doing the same.

“Long time no seen!” Yihao smiled his blinding smile. Seunggi really had missed him a lot.

“How are you?” Seunggi asked after hugging Yihao tightly once more.

“Good! I am in a good condition.” Yihao sounded excited which was absolutely contagious. It was not fair on Seunggi’s nerves, but it was contagious anyways.

Yihao walked over to the director with him and bowed to the rest of the staff, being just as polite as always.

Their initial excitement was reined in a little when the director told them they would have to wait indefinitely for their connecting flight to Nepal.

It was raining too hard in Nepal to get on a plane but taking the detour by car would take eight hours and not thirty minutes like the plane.

Seunggi and Yihao had to go into the airport and wait for the flight. There was nothing for them to do, but miraculously, they immediately slipped back into their comfortable silence around each other.

“When I was back home, I spoke English in my sleep.” Yihao told Seunggi.

“You did?” Seunggi laughed.

“My mum told me.”

Seunggi had no one that could have told him if he had been talking in his sleep. It was weirdly relieving for his mind that for Yihao it had also been his mother to hear him talk in his sleep.

He had never directly asked Yihao whether he had a partner, but he was certain that the topic would have been inevitable.

“I slept alone in Korea.” Seunggi said. “It was different to sleep alone.” It was not easy to relay what he wanted to say in English. He could only hope that Yihao would understand what he meant to say.

“It was comfortable, but weird.” Seunggi finished, and Yihao nodded eagerly.

“Oh! We’re wearing matching shoes!” Yihao pointed out. He sounded excited and softly kicked Seunggi’s foot with an indeed identical pair of shoes.

Seunggi would have to accept anew that whenever he was around Yihao, his heart simply would not stop fluttering.

Out of all the hardships Seunggi had experienced on this trip, being told they could go only to end up waiting more and more was certainly one of the most difficult. They had bought snacks in the airport at some point, but that did not exactly still Seunggi’s hunger. It was more a way to pass time.

Seunggi lost count both of the times that they were asked to wait some more and the time in general.

At some point, they were sent on a bus. Yihao tried to lighten the mood with suggesting that they were going to be on this bus for 8 hours, but Seunggi was a little too tired, exhausted, and overwhelmed to properly play along.

He could, however, of course, notice that Yihao was adorable. Seunggi was not exactly soothed by his words, but his heart felt warm, and he was a little more comfortable again.

When he had almost lost hope of ever leaving Pokhara, they were allowed to board the plane. In front of the plane, they took some selfies. Seeing Yihao’s genuine smile, Seunggi was also able to smile for real.

In the plane, he got into his seat and felt like he was ready to fall asleep any minute. He was not the most optimistic about this plane actually taking off, but then, when the engine started up, he turned to Yihao and naturally copied his smile.

Seunggi was not the biggest fan of flying, at least, he did not usually say it was his favourite mode of travelling, but today, he was happiest when the plane lifted up into the sky.

He had only been happier when Yihao had shouted: “Seunggi-oppa!” to then run into his arms, but that was not the point right now.

They landed safely in Nepal and were ushered to a taxi. Yihao looked around excitedly. Seunggi’s heart swelled, and the same sort of child-like wonder at new places was evoked in Seunggi too.

In the taxi, Seunggi asked the driver how long it would take them to the hotel. He was incredibly relieved when it was only ten minutes.

“Ten minutes.” Yihao said in Korean. “I am a good student.”

“Yes.” Seunggi laughed. He slowly felt himself waking up. “A very good student. We both are!”

It was true that they had taught each other a lot in the days they spent together. Seunggi did not speak or even really understand most of Chinese, but he had learned to love the sound of the language, especially if Yihao was speaking it.

Somewhat suddenly and randomly, Yihao solemnly turned to Seunggi and said: “Trust between friends is very important. Don’t lie to me.” Yihao laughed.

“Don’t worry!” Seunggi answered. He laughed too. He was no longer sure that he could even lie to Yihao. Not hurting him and being honest seemed way more important than any win or cunning move ever could.

They arrived at the hotel and were shown to their room. On the way, they passed a swimming pool which both made them wow.

Yihao turned around to Seunggi with what Seunggi understood as a questioning glance. Seunggi nodded and Yihao started smiling.

If Seunggi was not mistaken, that meant that they had agreed to go for a swim later.

In the room, the staff had already set up some of the things Seunggi would need for cooking.

“I am going to cook for you.” Seunggi told Yihao.

“Really?” Yihao asked in Korean, as if he knew that that was a weak spot for Seunggi.

“Yes.” Seunggi said and turned to face the wall and not Yihao.

“Can I help?” Yihao asked eagerly. Seunggi glanced back at him and saw his shining eyes. He could not just refuse, so he allowed Yihao to take out the rice. He still wanted this meal to remain his treat for Yihao, so he did most of the work.

It was sensible to work with his back turned to Yihao. At least, when he turned around and saw that Yihao was sneakily eating some of the rice he was supposed to turn into rice balls, looking caught and adorable with his big eyes, and Seunggi’s brain stopped working for a second, he knew it was the safest to work with his back to Yihao.

When he was done, Seunggi was proud of the Tteokboki he was able to offer to Yihao. Seunggi was very happy to eat at last, and particularly, to eat with Yihao something that he had cooked for him.

Out of the goodness of his heart, Seunggi also offered the director one serving.

“Do you want anything from this?” the director asked. Seunggi had to admit that his suspicion was not exactly unfounded.

“We’re good people!” he said nevertheless, feigning surprise at the director’s insensitive words.

“He needs to remember the kindness.” Yihao said in a conspiring voice that made Seunggi smile.

“You’re a good student!”

Seunggi was motioning towards Yihao with his hand and was understandably a little thrown when Yihao suddenly grabbed his hand.

“I’ll cook for you.” Seunggi said, taking his hand away and getting up again. Tteokboki had only been the first course. There was still some more to follow.

“Be careful!” Yihao told him when smoke started rising from the pan.

“It’s fine.” Seunggi said confidently. He was still surprised when dropping the dumplings into the pan did not cause any further disasters.

Yihao went to open the window but otherwise left Seunggi alone to cook for them.

“They are a little burnt?” Yihao asked.

“No problem.” Seunggi said.

“Korean style or your style? Seunggi style.” Yihao said, and Seunggi did not have to look around to know that Yihao was shaking his head in something akin to despair.

“Why do you look so hot?” Yihao asked after a couple of moments.

“Just hot.” Seunggi answered and was thankful that only then, the double-entendre presented itself to him.

“Are you nervous?” Yihao continued.

“No. Just hot.” Seunggi answered and was essentially positive that he was telling the truth.

Seunggi sat back down and placed the second course in front of Yihao.

“Is this okay?” Yihao asked, scooping some onto his spoon.

“Yes.” Seunggi said. “Not the burnt bits.” He mumbled and pushed those off Yihao’s spoon.

Yihao squinted a little while carefully trying this second course.

“Oh! It’s good!” he picked up another spoon. “It’s really good.”

Satisfied, Seunggi also started digging in. It was good. It was warm, not too hot and spicy, but filling and delicious in not a too fatty way.

“We should go camping in Taipei.” Yihao said suddenly, and Seunggi managed to mask his cough with taking a sip of water.

“You are a really good cook. We can cook while camping.” Yihao said.

Seunggi only laughed because he didn’t trust himself with playing down just how much he liked that idea. He was not the biggest fan of camping, but with Yihao, nearly any trip sounded like Seunggi’s kind of adventure.

“Thank you for cooking.” Yihao said, leaning back in his seat.

“You’re welcome.” Seunggi said and placed his spoon down too.

They each opened another can of beer after sharing the liquor Yihao had brought. Seunggi put away the crockery and sat back down.

Yihao’s cheeks were a little rosy and as if to support Seunggi’s theory that he was a little drunk, Yihao started mumbling stuff.

“Are you drunk?” Seunggi asked.

“No.” Yihao said clearly before going back to mumbling things.

“Maybe you should give me the mission now!” Seunggi told the director.

Yihao continued mumbling and finally, Seunggi understood what he was saying – in Korean: “It is really very incredible.”

Seunggi was endeared, but the staff laughing managed to avert the attention away from him, hopefully.

Seunggi and Yihao received the mission for the next day, and soon after, the staff left their hotel room. All necessary cameras were already installed, so it was just the two of them again, finally.

No. Not finally. Seunggi had not exactly longed for being alone with Yihao. It was way more stressful to be alone with him.

The two of them started tidying and putting the food away. By the end of it, Yihao was at least as sober as Seunggi was.

They had worked in silence, which was why Seunggi jumped unnecessarily when Yihao suddenly said: “Let’s go swimming.”

“Now?” Seunggi asked after he had calmed down. “We need to get up early tomorrow.”

“But we are here now.” Yihao said and smiled.

Seunggi did not want to test whether he would be able to resist those eyes, so he said: “Okay. Let’s go swimming now.”

They got changed taking turns in their bathroom and then went to the pool. Yihao had a shirt on still, which was the reason why Seunggi had made it safely to the pool in the first place.

Once they reached the pool, Yihao took the shirt off and carefully let himself glide into the water.

“It’s warm.” Yihao told Seunggi.

“Good.” Seunggi said, even if he was pretty sure only ice-cold water would have benefitted him right now.

“This is very nice.” Yihao said leaning back, wetting his soft curls.

“It is.” Seunggi agreed and copied him.

“Someone isn’t quite so nice.”

“Hey!” Seunggi said and stood up again. A bit of water splashed over to Yihao.

Yihao laughed. “I meant myself!” Yihao stood up too and simply looked at Seunggi.

“Why?”

“Because I want to do this.”

Seunggi had no chance to process the words or prepare himself for anything before a wave of water hit against his throat, splashing water into his face too.

“Hey!”

“I told you!” Yihao said cheerfully.

“You’ll get that back!” Seunggi said and gathered water into his hands splashing Yihao. Compared to the wave that had hit him, his attack on Yihao was very unsatisfactory.

Yihao giggled and stepped back a little only to produce and even bigger wave.

Seunggi was sputtering and wiped the water of his face. “How do you do that?”

Yihao smiled and came closer to show Seunggi, still falling for Seunggi’s cheap tricks.

Seunggi let Yihao show him the technique once before taking advantage of their closeness and pushing Yihao down a little before hitting him with a decent sized wave.

“Oh, we’re fighting, are we?” Yihao asked, glaring at Seunggi. Because he was still smiling, however, he simply looked confused with the scrunched-up face.

“Bring it on!” Seunggi said and splashed.

Yihao was miles better at procuring waves than Seunggi, but Seunggi was not too proud to apply any sort of diversion tactics. He pointed places, splashed rapidly, and even went over to trying to dunk Yihao underwater.

Yihao could fight off most of Seunggi’s attacks and even if he was sputtering a little, he was always still smiling and laughing.

Seunggi relentlessly tried to dunk Yihao and the more Yihao was laughing, the more successful he became.

One lucky moment, Yihao was not paying full attention, and Seunggi managed to dunk Yihao underwater. He let go immediately and started laughing.

Yihao coughed a little when he rose to the surface. He fixed his eyes on Seunggi and in one big stride at reached him and pushed him underwater.

Seunggi had been laughing which was why water had got into his lungs. It was still all in all a funny moment.

Once he realised what had happened and where he was, he wanted to swim back to the surface, when a hand already pulled him.

Yihao pulled Seunggi against his chest and held him tightly. Seunggi coughed because of the water but the situation was certainly not helped with him being this close to Yihao’s bare chest.

He was not even just close. He was touching it, and Yihao was pressing him against his chest.

That was a lot to take in, so Seunggi did not notice the concerned eyes on him.

“Are you okay?” Yihao asked in English. He put his hand on Seunggi’s cheek and gently turned it towards him. “Are you okay?” he repeated in Korean.

Seunggi was still coughing and out of his depth which made Yihao repeat the question in Chinese too.

“Yes. Yes. I’m fine.” Seunggi said once he managed to stop coughing.

Yihao twisted Seunggi’s face to the side, looking closely at him.

“You said your ear can’t ever go underwater.” Yihao said, still mustering him.

Seunggi felt impossibly warm. Yihao had remembered what he had said in Bali?

“Not for long. I can’t. But I am fine now.” Seunggi assured Yihao.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Seunggi said and smiled.

“Okay.” Yihao said and slowly took his hand away from Seunggi’s cheek. “I am sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Seunggi asked.

“Starting this.”

“We are both fine.” Seunggi smiled. “It was fun!”

Yihao started smiling a little again too and let go off Seunggi, which was the only thing he should have apologised for, in Seunggi’s opinion.

“Should we go back?” Yihao asked.

“Yes.” Seunggi said.

Yihao turned his back to Seunggi which was of course too good a chance to miss. Seunggi jumped onto his back and pulled both of them underwater.

Yihao was laughing again when they came up which meant that Seunggi’s mission had been successful.

“You’re reckless.” Yihao laughed.

“I am brave.” Seunggi agreed.

“Silly.”

“Smart.”

“An idiot.” Yihao grinned.

“Take that back!” Seunggi said, clutching his heart.

“My idiot.” Yihao said and walked to the ladder as if he hadn’t just caused a cardiac arrest.

“Your towel.” Yihao said after Seunggi had climbed out of the pool too.

“Thanks.”  
“Take a shower and then sleep.” Yihao said, pulling the towel closer around him.

“You go first!” Seunggi said and for once managed to insist.

Yihao was quick as always and came out of the bathroom wearing his silky blue pyjamas. Seunggi smiled and quickly went into the bathroom to shower.

When he came back into the room, a pair of pyjamas identical to the ones Yihao was wearing but in white were lying on his bed.

“Oh?” Seunggi picked them up.

Yihao smiled brightly at Seunggi. “Put them on.”

Seunggi nodded and returned to the bathroom. He was touched that Yihao had remembered that he said he always wore white pyjamas.

This evening was really very exhausting with how often Seunggi was touched because Yihao remembered something he had told him.

Seunggi came back into the bedroom and grinned at Yihao. He had been right. The sleeping suits were very comfortable. They felt great and expensive.

Seunggi’s ears heated up a little when he realised that he was wearing a couple outfit with Yihao.

“So cute!” Yihao said, always finding a way to make Seunggi even more embarrassed.

“Thank you very much.” Seunggi said sincerely.

“You’re welcome.” Yihao said and leaned against the headboard.

Seunggi sat down on his own bed, setting the alarm for the next morning only to suddenly feel his stomach cramp. He rolled his head back which only resulted in somewhat straining his back.

The groan he let out was both not very mature and pathetic.

“Are you alright, Seunggi-ssi?” Yihao asked.

“Yeah.” Seunggi said through gritted teeth and lay down on his stomach, hoping to pressure the cramps into stopping – literally.

“Are you hurt? In pain?” Yihao asked, and Seunggi heard that he had swung his legs out of his bed again.

“A little.” Seunggi admitted.

“Your back?” Yihao asked.

“Yes. My neck. And stomach because I ate too much and rested too little, probably.” Seunggi was rambling to himself in Korean, not unhappy that Yihao could not understand him.

“I can massage you.” Yihao offered.

Seunggi knew that he should have declined. He should have laughed it off, sat up again and gone to sleep like a normal adult would have done.

“You don’t have to.” was what Seunggi opted for.

“I want to.” Yihao said in English, which Seunggi quickly translated for himself to mean: I don’t mind.

To give Yihao some sort of access to his shoulders and back, Seunggi started pushing himself up again, but Yihao’s hands pushed him back down.

“Stay.” He said gently.

Seunggi’s heartbeat picked up speed and he was happy not to be showing his face to Yihao, which was undoubtedly rather red.

Seunggi felt the bed dip down next to him when Yihao climbed on top of it. With a little time, Seunggi was certain he could get used to it, but Yihao did not allow for that as he sat down on the back of Seunggi’s thighs.

He was trapping him, not that Seunggi had wanted to run away, but now he couldn’t either.

Seunggi did not manage to mask the sharp intake of breath, but Yihao only tutted sympathetically (Seunggi was not exactly sure how he managed to combine the two) and started rubbing his shoulder.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little.” Seunggi said, cursing his voice for being so feeble.

“I will help you.” Yihao said determinedly and pressed down into Seunggi’s shoulders. Seunggi bit down on his hand in order to prevent spilling any sort of inappropriate sounds.

Yihao’s warmth was by now something familiar to Seunggi, but this closeness was certainly new and confused Seunggi a little. The most confusing part was that Seunggi would have been sure to not like a situation like this, but he stood, or rather lay corrected.

“Better?” Yihao asked.

“Mh.” Seunggi hummed in a somewhat noncommitting way.

“You worked hard. You cooked.” Yihao said, his hands slowly trailing down to Seunggi’s waist.

“I wanted to cook for you.” Seunggi said honestly, before quickly biting down on his hand again when Yihao pressed into his sides. 

“Thank you.” Yihao said and continued massaging him. 

Slowly, Seunggi began relaxing and both his neck and stomach pain lessened. Yihao’s weight on his back was reassuring and calming and slowly lulled Seunggi into a state close to sleep.

Yihao must have sensed that he was feeling better as he slowed down his movements and eventually stopped. He climbed off Seunggi and the bed and lay down in his own bed again.

Seunggi had to bite his tongue to not ask Yihao to simply share his bed.

He did not know where exactly that thought had come from, but he was certain that he was crossing too many lines with that. So not saying anything his deeply tired brain wanted him to say was a clever thing to do anyway.

“Thank you.” Seunggi said and rolled around onto his back, relieved to find that the pain truly was essentially gone.

“You’re welcome.” Yihao said. If Seunggi had been a little less tired, he might have not thought that Yihao now sounded like he was in pain.

Not trusting his ears and brain in general, Seunggi ignored that thought and closed his eyes.

“Good night, Yihao.” He said and allowed his breathing to calm down further.

“Good night.” Yihao returned, also in English. Then, in Chinese, he said: “I love you.”, and Seunggi was almost wide awake again.

They were good friends and good friends cherished and loved each other and when good friends were in pain they offered to massage and when good friends were tired they accidentally said ‘I love you.’ in a sincere voice even if that did not mean quite exactly that, but good friends knew that of course.

Judging by that definition, Seunggi and Yihao were the definition of good friends. Seunggi was relieved.

He could sleep well knowing that they were good friends and that he had done everything right in not crossing that line.


	9. Day 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little late but please still enjoy! :) See you tomorrow! <3

Day 8

Nepal 

Despite Seunggi’s strenuous evening, he woke up happily. His alarm went off, but Yihao was already walking around the room, which was soothingly familiar that even if it was too early and Seunggi had not slept that much was enough to make him smile.

“Good morning.” Seunggi said.

“Morning.” Yihao returned and turned to continue packing his things.

Seunggi got up and quickly went into the bathroom. As soon as he saw his reflection in the mirror, his ears turned red. He was wearing the pyjamas Yihao had got him, the ones that matched Yihao’s own.

When Seunggi came out of the bathroom, dressed in the clothes he had brought, his ears had still not calmed down, but he was able to ignore Yihao mostly, as they were both busy getting ready to leave.

As their first mission, they were taken to the base of a mountain they would have to climb in order to take a picture of another mountain. It was early and climbing a mountain was tough, but the mission seemed easy enough.

They started climbing the mountain, frequently squinting into the sky, trying not to get discouraged by the grey sky.

A couple of meters up, they met a man that spoke to them in Korean, which was a very welcome surprise. He was kind and fun to talk to, even if his sober words of them probably not being able to see the mountain that day were highly discouraging.

“We’ll keep going.” Seunggi told Yihao determinedly.

Yihao had not just heard his mother tongue and had had a chance to regain energy like that, so Seunggi took care to encourage him.

“It’s going to be alright.” Seunggi said.

Yihao grinned at him and started singing their song. Seunggi felt his ears heating up again at joined in to sing the lyrics he had written what felt like a lifetime ago, when he first travelled to start this journey with Yihao.

The mountain got steeper, and even if there were stairs they could use, it was a battle to progress. Seunggi wanted the climb to be over, so he sped up every now and then, always dutifully waiting for his partner in crime, of course.

All the people they met along the way told them it was essentially impossible to see the Annapurna mountain. Still, they persevered and fought on.

“Follow me.” Seunggi said and sped up a little. He would have still not admitted to running away from Yihao after what had happened the evening before, he was merely setting the pace of success.

They arrived at a resting spot, with more people to take away their optimism.

“Do you think we can see Annapurna?” Seunggi asked the locals.

“No.” they were quick to answer.

“No? No chance?”

“Maybe, 1% chance.”

Seunggi was discouraged, but Yihao looked the part, so Seunggi smiled, bought some water, and urged Yihao up the remainder of the mountain.

“We have one percent chance.” Seunggi said in what he hoped was an encouraging manner.

“What is one percent?” Yihao asked. Seunggi sensed that he lay on the dramatics a little thickly and was tired, but not totally disheartened.

“We have to go.” Seunggi insisted.

“For one percent.” Yihao said and was back in Seunggi’s boat, which felt great.

Yihao slowed down at a particularly vicious set of stairs, so Seunggi turned around to him and asked: “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Yihao answered.

Seunggi was not satisfied, so he grabbed Yihao’s hand to pull him along. The poor thing looked tired and exhausted.

Yihao sent a thankful smile his way, and Seunggi quickly turned back around again. He was not blushing, at least there was no evidence that he was, so it was easiest to pretend that he wasn’t.

Finally, they got to the last flight of stairs reaching to the viewpoint. They paid the entrance fee and quickly ascended the stairs.

On the grassy top, against all odds, Annapurna could be seen, peaking through some clouds.

“We’re lucky guys!” Seunggi said.

“Thank you!” Yihao shouted out, and Seunggi followed in all the languages he could think of.

“Quick, take a picture!” Yihao said. His energy had come back a little again, which was lovely to see.

“Yes.” Seunggi took a picture of the top and then some selfies of the two of them. Seeing Yihao smile immediately brought a smile to Seunggi’s face too.

Somehow, it was not quite as easy to smile in a carefree way. As soon as he started smiling like he normal would, Yihao leaned against him. Flashbacks of the evening before came into Seunggi’s mind and his smile froze on his face a little bit.

He was still smiling but he was certainly not as relaxed anymore. His heart was beating faster once more.

Luckily, the process of taking pictures did not take too long, and Seunggi’s heart calmed down again when Yihao put some distance between them.

“Let’s sit down.” Seunggi said and uselessly pointed towards the one bench on the peak of the mountain they had climbed.

After sitting down, Yihao clutched his hands together and said: “Let’s make a wish.”

Seunggi folded his hands.

“The dream will come true.” Yihao said softly.

Seunggi glanced over to Yihao who was looking at him. He was really just looking and yet, Seunggi’s breathing lost rhythm for a moment.

“Hope this time, we meet our fan, right?” Yihao asked.

“Yes.” Seunggi said. Of course he was hoping that too, but his real wish was a little different.

‘I wish for things to go well with Yihao.’

Seunggi felt warm after expressing this wish. It took him a while to notice that that was because he had altered the wish ever so slightly. He wanted to get along with Yihao well and that things worked out for them. That was still more or less vague, but also undeniably a little more concrete than the wishes he had expressed at the other instances.

Wishing for this to go well was different that wishing for things to go well with Yihao, Seunggi had to admit.

Luckily, admitting to something did not have to mean that Seunggi behaved according to the consequences. He pushed those far back and tried to stay in the moment, on the bench, on top of a mountain, next to Yihao, as good as he could.

After enjoying the view on the peak for a little longer and actually seeing Annapurna disappear into the clouds again already, Seunggi and Yihao made their way back down.

They sat down in a small restaurant, facing their director and showed him the pictures they had taken. They received the clue in return and were told that they could rest for a little while.

“You can have some snacks and order Lazi.” The director said.

“Lazi?” Yihao asked.

Seunggi looked over to him and was confused to see a blush on Yihao’s cheeks.

Yihao tried to explain the joke, a staff member came to his aid and said: “Lazi, in Cantonese, means kissing. More like French-kissing.”

Everyone started laughing, as did Seunggi. Seunggi’s ears were heating up and he felt a little lightheaded. Otherwise, he could hardly explain, why he chose to say: “I like Lazi.”

Yihao laughed, but he did not sound totally at ease.

Seunggi risked another glance over to Yihao and saw that his blush had a little intensified. He looked away again because he felt his ears suddenly seeking to match the colour of Yihao’s cheeks.

Instead, Seunggi looked back at Annapurna through the window to calm down. There was nothing a beautiful nature scenery could not yet help take his mind off.

Seunggi was certain he would have succeeded marvellously, had Yihao not suddenly patted his arm. His heartbeat sped up a little again, and he turned around.

Cups of ramen were on the table.

“Do you think you will get these for free?” the director asked, not exactly maliciously, but still way too content to be teasing them.

“Yesterday, Seunggi-ssi, your dinner was very delicious.” Yihao said, narrowing his eyes at the director a little while smiling brightly.

“Oh, thank you.” Seunggi said, quickly jumping on to Yihao’s clever plan. He was a little ashamed that he had not had that idea himself, but as long as they were progressing, things were still fine.

“Alright, you will get the ramen.” The director conceded.

Seunggi and Yihao grinned at each other. Seunggi was very thankful that the somewhat awkward atmosphere had disappeared.

They were back to being a normal team, and Seunggi did not have to waste time thinking what a shame it was he could not lean against Yihao even if he knew that he could not possibly be more comfortable than there.

The ramen gave them the necessary energy to climb down the mountain again.

They arrived at the car and were taken to the next location by their skilful driver.

By the time they arrived at the lake, which was part of their mission in a way, Seunggi had almost forgotten all amount the French-kiss incident and his ridiculous thoughts on top of the mountain.

At least, Seunggi had managed to convince himself that the thinner air on top of the mountain had caused all sorts of weird thoughts.

In the car, it was very easy to ignore Yihao’s presence in all aspects apart from him being his trusty travel partner. It must have been the air on the mountain, not anything fundamental within Seunggi.

When they got out and the director explained to them what the next mission was about, however, Seunggi was forced to admit that his excuse for any sort of reaction was not exactly valid.

The island they were going to was a popular sacred place for lovers, so the director told them.

Seunggi would have very much liked to only hear about that after they had gone to the island. Of course, in order to honour the place, they needed to know about its meaning first.

“Are you alright?” Yihao asked Seunggi walking towards the boat they were to row over the lake.

“Yes.” Seunggi said and quickly went to climb into the front seat of the boat.

Seunggi’s heart was beating faster at the thought of visiting a sacred place together with Yihao. That was probably because this was another of the romantic places, and the whole mass of it was sure to strain their relationship as good friends.

“I love boats.” Yihao said cheerfully when they set out their small journey.

He loved boats, Seunggi needed to save that piece of information.

No.

He did not need to save that information! Why would he need to store that information anywhere in his brain? He did not need to know every little thing about Yihao.

Seunggi knew enough things about Yihao to call him a good friend. He wanted to know him better, but that was being selfish.

No. Not selfish. Delusional.

Also wrong. Seunggi did not need to get to know Yihao better.

“Left, right, left, right!” Yihao chanted for them to find a rhythm to row.

“Yes!” Seunggi said quickly and put force into his rows. “First the mountain and now this!”

Yihao laughed happily. Seunggi felt light again and tried crushing that sensation quickly. He needed to, or the time on the island would be unbearable.

It turned out that Seunggi did not actually have to worry all that much about the island. It was a very nice place.

Also, they only had time for the mission and not that much for looking around. Seunggi was not constantly close to Yihao and managed to focus on the mission.

Flicking stones in a local manner was a lot of fun. The people they were playing against were highly competitive too, which made staying in the game easier.

A couple of times, Seunggi had to remind himself to not touch Yihao and instead encourage him verbally.

High fiving when either of them did well was fine, of course, but pairing down the remainder of physical contact was a wise move, anyways.

There are also a few narrow misses, and Seunggi was unable to stop Yihao from hiding in his shoulder.

Yihao was actually a tiny bit taller than Seunggi. It felt nice to be the one offering a safe space for once.

When Seunggi was on the verge of enjoying Yihao’s closeness a little too much, Yihao stepped away again and only had eyes for the game.

Seunggi was maybe a little more affected by Yihao’s touch than he had thought because now he missed a vital shot.

The next shot was Yihao’s responsibility again, and he managed to hit it straight into the hole.

Yihao cheered loudly and fell around Seunggi’s neck which was different but a very similar sort of nice, anyways.

Seunggi patted Yihao’s back a little clumsily, trying to hide his fast beating heart.

“Adrenaline!” Yihao said when he let go off Seunggi again.

“Yeah.” Seunggi said which was surprisingly coherent for the fact that his heart had just plummeted down.

After saying goodbye to the friends, they had made on the island, they rowed the boat back, mostly in silence.

Seunggi was still battling with his heartbeat, and Yihao was possibly tired by now too.

Even back in the car on the way to the airport, they sat next to each other in silence.

Seunggi occasionally let his eyes wander, but after finding Yihao’s smiling eyes on him twice, Seunggi decided to stop doing that and stared out of the window which was certainly the safer option.

“A hard day.” Yihao sighed.

“Yes.” Seunggi said and looked out of Yihao’s window in order to create the illusion that he was looking at Yihao.

“You are tired.” Yihao said.

“Yes? Why?” Seunggi asked.

“You are not smiling as much.”

Seunggi could not help his eyes snapping up to meet Yihao’s again.

“It’s only two more days.” Yihao said. Seunggi knew that he was trying to cheer him up and comfort him, but somehow, he could not have said anything worse.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Yihao said and leaned forward to catch a glance of Seunggi’s face.

“I had a very good time.” Seunggi said.

“Me too.”

“I will be sad when it is over.” Seunggi admitted.

“Oh.” Yihao said and stayed silent.

“I will have a lot of things to do.” Seunggi said when the silence was unbearable. This was not the whole and entire truth, but it was better than having to suffer in silence.

Yihao was silent for another beat before laughing and said: “Busy man.”

“Yeah. Busy man.” Seunggi agreed and laughed dryly. His laugh sounded a lot like Yihao’s. Funny.

They arrived at the airport. Once again, it was the same waiting game.

This time, they were out on the terrace, waiting for their flight which was better than staying inside in any case.

A group of school children was also waiting for their flight and came over at some point to take some pictures, which was a nice diversion.

Once this whole waiting thing was over and they were safely in their hotel room, Seunggi could go to sleep and relax after the exhausting day.

It was important that what had happened the evening before did not happen again. The hotel did not have a pool, so there was little chance of that precisely happening again, but more importantly, what had happened back in the hotel room could not happen again.

There was absolutely no way Seunggi would not crumble and just kiss Yihao.

Inside Seunggi, something suddenly fell into place and he felt a hot shower down his back. It was not exactly unpleasant but certainly too hot for this place and time.

“Are you alright?” Yihao asked, leaning over the table towards Seunggi. “You look hot.”

Seunggi inwardly cursed the English language for that absolutely unnecessary double-entendre, while trying not to sputter too visibly.

“I am fine.” Seunggi said and pulled up the corners of his mouth. “I am a little tired.”

“We can sleep soon.” Yihao said in a comforting manner.

Seunggi’s heart seared.

He absolutely adored Yihao, but once again, what he said in order to comfort Seunggi had the opposite effect. This time, Seunggi did not get sad, but he got agitated which was also not exactly helpful.

It would cost too much energy to be agitated now and he would be even more tired later which would potentially rob Seunggi of the control over his actions, which was dangerous, to say the least.


	10. Day 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My internet is really bad currently, so this is late! I will be back for the last and looong chapter! Stay safe! <3 And enjoy! :)

Day 9

Nepal 

“Good morning.”

Seunggi squeezed his eyes shut and then tried opening them. It was still dark in the room.

“Good morning, Seunggi.” The same voice said again, and of course, it was Yihao.

“Morning.” Seunggi answered and sat up. “Is it late?”

“Not yet, but if you want to take a shower, you need to get up now.” Yihao made an apologetic face.

“Thank you.” Seunggi said and sat up.

“You’re welcome.” Yihao said. He looked at Seunggi for a while longer. Seunggi smiled, Yihao returned the smile and then simply turned around.

Seunggi stood up and went into the bathroom. While he stood under the shower, he let his thoughts trail back to the evening before.

He remembered boarding the flight at long last and remembered getting off it too and into a taxi. And some point they had arrived at the hotel, been shown to their room, but that was as much as his brain could reproduce.

It was fine, he had been with Yihao and he had woken up feeling well rested. Nothing too bad could have happened.

Together, Seunggi and Yihao were taken to Bhaktapur, a big temple site. Their mission for the day was one of the vaguer ones.

The yoga mission had maybe been the vaguest one because Seunggi had still only somewhat understood it, but the yoga mission was really not what Seunggi should be thinking about, not then and maybe ever again.

The mission they had was to find a person that shared a similarity with other people, and when they found them, they would have to say: “Bhetiyo.”, meaning ‘Found it.’.

“Bheti…?” Yihao asked, taking out his phone to safe the code word.

“He won’t remember.” Seunggi told the director. “Be…” he started but had to admit: “I forgot it. He has remembered a lot of things.”

Yihao was blissfully unaware of the embarrassing things Seunggi had just muttered in Korean. Seunggi could only hope that he had been all in all too unintelligible to have cause much attention.

They recorded the word they were supposed to say and went on their way looking for the people they were supposed to find.

Having absolutely no clue what they needed to look out for did not make this chase any easier. The director assured them that once they would see the thing, they would know, but that was still not helpful in determining what to look out for.

At some point, Seunggi and Yihao happened upon a young boy that eagerly tried to help them. He excitedly led them somewhere too, but the people he had found were part of their crew.

The little boy was not that much help, but he was a very nice addition to the party. He was a heaven-sent really, as he forced Seunggi to focus on the mission and not Yihao or anything else that could wait.

It turned out that the people they needed to find wore traditional clothing with a letter stitched into their clothing. In turn for telling them Bhetiyo, they received a puzzle piece of a picture.

Looking for the remaining picture pieces, they did get waylaid a fair bit. Seunggi bought a sharp knife he had always wanted, and they accidentally ended up finding cashmere scarfs they absolutely needed to own.

Yihao of course looked absolutely breath-taking with the scarf wrapped artfully around his head.

“A good choice!” Seunggi congratulated them, and they continued their journey.

Seunggi noticed Yihao looking at a picture with longing eyes at a different stall. It was settled that Seunggi would help him acquire that picture. It was for everyone’s sake, it would relinquish the look in Yihao’s eyes, and he would start smiling, so it was a service really.

After haggling for the picture and borrowing money, Seunggi got Yihao the picture and was immediately rewarded with a happy and thankful smile.

“You will need this money for food.” The director warned them.

“I am hungry already.” Yihao said, looking somewhat fearfully at Seunggi.

“You need to be patient.” Seunggi told him, trying not to melt at Yihao’s eyes.

Eventually, they found the last person, received the last picture, and traded it for the clue that would lead them to their fan.

The next place they were taken to was Dilli Bazar. They were sitting in the back of the car together and Yihao was rubbing is stomach, being obvious that he was hungry.

Seunggi took out his phone and opened a translator. He typed his phrase in and let the app tell Yihao in Chinese: “You must bear it, even if you’re hungry.”

Yihao grinned. Seunggi added, in English: “You got a picture.”

“I will just look at the picture when I get hungry.” Yihao sighed and unrolled his most prized possession.

“Yes.” Seunggi encouraged him and looked out of his window again, relying on the fact that he would finally master the art of pretending Yihao was not there right next to him.

They arrived at the Bazar and were shown to a table. A waiter came and skilfully filled their cups with a clear liquid. Both of them thought it was water and took a strong sip, nearly spitting it back out again, when it turned out to be rather strong liquor.

They swallowed, glanced at each other, and giggled.

Traditional music was played right next to their table and people started dancing. Seunggi followed the moves carefully. The mission had something to do with the dancing, he was certain.

While they watched the dancers, food was placed down on the table in front of them. Nobody said anything about them not touching the food, so Yihao and Seunggi carefully started eating a little.

As Seunggi had guessed, they were asked to stand up soon and were motioned to dance along.

For one sequence of steps, Yihao suddenly grabbed Seunggi’s waist which felt nicer than it should have.

Yihao was being professional and trying to complete a mission, why could Seunggi not concentrate that well too?

After they successfully finished dancing and were allowed to sit down again, Seunggi was euphoric that they had for once immediately taken a mission in their stride.

The director had a highly amused smile on his face, which did not bode well.

And sure enough, their mission turned out to be putting the dishes that had been placed onto their table into the right order.

They only have a couple of tries but win the chance to ask a question with the modified rock, paper, scissors game.

The question is not really that useful, but it was well worth winning simply to see the director’s bewildered face when they win the modified game once again.

“That’s impossible!”

“No!” Seunggi said quickly. They had of course cheated, but in a way, they had also won fair and square. He would not share the secret without any real benefit for them though, he was not stupid.

Seunggi messed up the order once but saved them with insisting they had not officially started that try, and in the end, Yihao saved them once again, with managing to find the right order.

They were euphoric and wanted to be on their way to meet the fan, when the waitress came back with the bill for their meal.

“Are you a quick runner?” Seunggi whispered to Yihao in Korean. That was a joke of course.

Seunggi sighed and turned to the director that did not look mad, or even terribly smug, he simply seemed to be excited to see Seunggi’s way out of this situation.

“If you pay for our meal, I will tell you the secret of us winning.” Seunggi conceded.

The director only pondered a short while, before nodding his head, and looking at Seunggi expectantly.

Seunggi explained that he and Yihao had settled on Yihao choosing the winning symbol and Seunggi the losing one, based on what the director had shown.

“That is clever.” The director allowed.

Seunggi felt good at receiving something that was quite close to a compliment. Although, he was obviously not quite as happy as he had been when Yihao had hit him with a: “You are so smart!” in an awed voice when Seunggi had shared this plan with him.

Maybe Seunggi had been especially cunning and eager to show his abilities as he had wanted to get Yihao’s praise and marvel.

Surely not.

They were only positive side-effects. They were not the guiding factors in Seunggi’s decision making. That would have been silly and excessive.

With the food paid for and all missions completed, Seunggi and Yihao were taken to the vicinity of their fan’s house.

It turned out to be one of Seunggi’s fan. She was very energetic and openly shared a lot with Seunggi.

Yihao sat next to them, not exactly indifferent but certainly quiet.

“I am sorry!” the fan said, turning to Yihao after an especially emotional speech directed towards Seunggi.

“Don’t apologise. He will be more miserable if you say sorry.” Seunggi laughed, he did, however, also quickly check whether Yihao was doing alright.

“I feel hurt.” Yihao said, clutching his chest.

“We are just friends.” Seunggi said. They were just friends, and Yihao did not feel slighted when Seunggi’s fan was focussing on talking to him.

They really were just friends, Seunggi’s absolutely delusional heart needed to calm down and stop acting up, instantly, if possible.

Seunggi succeeded in focussing on the fan in front of him and not on protecting Yihao. He sang for the fan too. Yihao reached over and placed Seunggi’s hands into those of the fan.

Seunggi started smiling. It was a very considerate and perceptive move from Yihao.

“Wow so good!” Yihao said after Seunggi performed. “I am so touched.” He said in Chinese, adding something else that Seunggi could not understand.

He really wanted to understand what Yihao was saying. He wanted to speak Chinese. He wanted to listen to whatever Yihao had to say and be able to understand him.

Seunggi snapped back from his wishful thinking and precured the album he wanted to give his fan.

“I also have something.” Yihao said and rummaged in his bag. Seunggi tilted his hand and started laughing when Yihao handed him a pen.

“I know what you need.” Yihao said.

“Yeah.” Seunggi said which was still the best non-committal answer he could give.

After signing the album, Seunggi took a selfie. To tease Yihao, he wanted him to take the picture, but Yihao was already a step ahead of Seunggi in mocking himself with having put his flash on to provide lighting for the picture.

Yihao took a picture of them, but then they also took selfies, also some with Yihao in them, of course.

They hugged the fan together when it was time for them to get on their way to the airport.

This was the last international fan they would meet in the course of this program. The final stage would take place at Seoul.

It was a bittersweet goodbye. With saying goodbye to the fan, Seunggi inevitably had to admit that this trip was coming to a close which did not feel good at all.

It was a true shame that the thought of this trip ending made Seunggi sad while Yihao was still next to him. Surely, he could have spent his time a little more wisely, but there was no switch or button with which he could dial up just the emotion he ideally wanted in that moment.


	11. Day 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The internet is really not my friend here, but I have managed and can now present to you the last chapter!! :) Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this story! May you all be safe and happy! Stay safe! I love and appreciate all of you! :) Love, Phantje xx

Day 10  
Seoul 

For quite a while, Seunggi had been excited about showing Yihao parts of Seoul. This was where he spent most of his time, usually. He wanted to share it with Yihao.  
Of course, Seunggi did not have any real influence of where they would go, but he could easily take the lead and make sure that Yihao was comfortable. 

One thing he immediately disliked about Seoul, however, was that his agent had been waiting for him when they had arrived at the airport.  
“I’ll take Seunggi home.” The agent had told the director.  
“Yes. See you tomorrow.” The director had answered. 

Seunggi had not been aware that he would not be sharing a hotel room with Yihao. He supposed that it was judged convenient for him to go home, but he did not like that he had not been involved in the decision making. 

Seunggi had not had a chance to really say goodbye to Yihao. He had felt bad for leaving him alone, but then of course, Yihao did have Chinese crew members that were highly qualified to tell him what was going on. 

Waking up in his own bed the next morning was not unpleasant, to be fair, but Seunggi still would have preferred to wake up next to Yihao.  
It pained him that he could not even complain openly that this last opportunity had been taken from him. He did not have any right to wake up next to Yihao, but in the privacy of his own apartment, he could at least be sad that he had no chance to experience such a lovely morning for one last time. 

Seunggi got dressed and met his manager who took him to the first location. His manager told him he would see him again when filming had been wrapped up later that day, which made Seunggi’s heart sink. 

“See you.” Seunggi said weakly.  
For a moment, he felt unable to be an entertaining participant of the show, but then a car arrived and Yihao stepped out, looking beautiful as ever.  
A smile came to Seunggi’s face, and he felt supported in the notion that it would be best to ignore that this was the last day in favour of a good performance. 

Yihao was wearing a grey hoodie. Seunggi had not looked at the two of them in direct comparison, but where he was wearing a bright yellow jumper to lighten up the cloudy sky, Yihao looked soft and comfortable, cuddle-inducing, as it were. 

“Good morning.” Yihao said and came over to Seunggi with a smile.  
“Good morning.” By now, returning Yihao’s smile truly came second-nature to Seunggi. 

“Let’s go!” a staff member told them, and Seunggi and Yihao set into motion.  
They were at Hangang Park, walking towards the riverside to meet the director.  
Two women passing them told them how pretty they were, and Seunggi inwardly screamed his agreement, using the moment to take another good look at Yihao.  
He did look absolutely breath-taking with his warm skin and soft curls. Seunggi faced straight ahead again and hoped he gave off the illusion of perfect serenity. 

The mission the director explained to them sounded very straightforward but once again highly impossible too.  
Like they had to for the last mission, they would need to find people and receive hints from them.  
The people, they were told were recognisable as soon as they saw them. They would know what to look for. 

A water taxi would take them to different spots along the river where they would have the amount of time they had previously rolled dices for to go and find the person and convince them to give them the hint. 

On the boat, Seunggi had the time of his life teasing Yihao. He was being a bit mean, deliberately hearing ‘bullshit’ in what Yihao had said, but Yihao took it well.  
Once again, Seunggi noticed that throughout the trip, Yihao had always taken everything very well. He had taken everything a little too well. If he had reacted a little differently, Seunggi might have adapted his behaviour and might have been able to show a kinder side of himself. 

He was not exactly unkind either, teaching Yihao a phrase to say to people: “Do you have a picture by any chance?”, but he could have been less cheeky all in all.  
Then again, this was an issue too deeply ingrained in his every fibre of being, so this was really not the moment to think about it. 

For the first stop, Yihao and Seunggi managed to get five minutes. They set a timer and ran out, desperately looking for a person that looked like they could have a clue for them. 

Right at the end of their time, they found a woman sitting alone who turned out to be Nadya, Seunggi’s first fan they had met on this trip.  
Nadya was not inclined to just give them the present containing the hint like that. 

“Tell her you love her!” Yihao said urgently.  
In the rush, Seunggi said “I love you.” in Korean. He flinched a little. It sounded too sincere, and he was not comfortable saying that in front of Yihao.  
Quickly, he repeated the same in English and was happy to receive the present in return. 

They managed to find all of their fans and usually quickly received the presents the fans were keeping for them.  
They did not have a lot of time usually, which was why Seunggi just snatched the present from Kim and ran away. He did feel bad about that, but they had a time limit, and in order to make it possible to meet their last fan, they needed to complete this mission well too. 

The last remaining fan was the girl that had got them Starbucks. Due to a dark twist of fate, they only had one minute to find her and get the present – both Yihao and then Seunggi had phenomenally messed up rolling the dices. 

The fan was too far away to get to her in one minute, so all Seunggi could do was beg at the bottom for her to throw down the present. The minute was over soon, and they did not get the present and even worse left the fan crying.  
Seunggi would have to find a way to make amends to her at some point, but now, they needed to get back to the boat. 

The boat took them to the final station. They looked at the clues and understood that they needed to go to the Olympic park and find a small family, the mother of which was their fan.  
While on the boat, the time restrained was no longer in force, so they had time to take some selfies together. 

Yihao smiled at the camera. Seunggi did a quick double take because if he wasn’t mistaken, this was a smile he had not yet seen Yihao do. It was soft and showed off his dimples.  
Yihao looked gorgeous, and Seunggi was glad to note that at least, he looked happy next to him.  
He was going to keep that picture and he would look at it when he missed Yihao too much. 

Back on land, Seunggi and Yihao walked over to a car. Seunggi felt giddy to be the one getting to drive Yihao around.  
Accidentally, he walked to the wrong door, and Yihao snickered.  
“Are you sure you should be driving?”  
“Yes!” Seunggi said quickly. He would not let this opportunity pass by, so maybe, he was a little too serious. 

Seunggi started the engine, and they were off. He was a good driver, so he could afford to focus some attention on what was going on inside his head.  
He was comfortable driving Yihao. He wished he could continue doing this. He wished that this would be normal. 

Seunggi coughed and decided it was safer for both of them, literally!, if he were to stop thinking immediately. He stared onto the street, while trying to look calm and relaxed. 

“I want to do this in Taipei.” Yihao said at some point, and Seunggi deserved a medal for civil service when he did not jerk the steering wheel.  
“Taipei?”  
“Yes. The fans. I want them to come to Taipei.”  
Of course, Yihao had not meant Seunggi. He did not want Seunggi to come to Taipei and drive through the city with him.  
He did not care for the moment they shared the way Seunggi did.  
Actually, the fact that he did not care probably meant that they were not actually sharing any moment at all. 

It was not exactly a wonder, but it was still a feat that they arrived at the Olympic Park. Especially the fact that Seunggi had not sweated through his shirt.  
In the park, they went to look for the family that had been described on the clues, and quite quickly, Yihao excitedly tapped Seunggi’s arm and pointed to a family with a stroller. 

They went over to the family and the small baby started crying, as did Yihao’s fan. Her husband had applied for her to participate in this program and kept it a secret for several months.  
Seunggi smiled at the happy family. He was also glad to have a vital role somewhat translating and mediating between Yihao and his fan. He had some form of role and he was involved, which was good for their last day together. 

Together with the family of three, Seunggi and Yihao made their way to the absolute last location which turned out to be a café.  
The family was securely seated in the back, complete with a baby seat. Yihao automatically sat down next to Seunggi in the front. There was no other logical way to distribute the people, but it still made Seunggi smile. 

In the café, all the fans they had briefly met during the mission already were assembled again for Yihao and Seunggi to take a seat in their midst. 

Yihao took over a big role of the communication. He was eagerly looking around, trying to speak to every single one of their fans. It was very endearing to look at and a lot of fun to be a part of it.  
As long as Seunggi did not think about this being the last thing on their filming agenda, he would be able to enjoy the time with the array of fans. 

It was an experience to talk to so many different people that were somehow brought together because of their united interest in either Seunggi or Yihao.  
Seunggi got a tiny little bit uncomfortable when the fans started talking about his dating rumour. It was old news for them, of course, but Yihao looked a little surprised.  
Then again, maybe, Seunggi only wanted Yihao to have some sort of reaction. He wanted him to be interested enough in him to show a reaction to a dating rumour about him. 

Seunggi’s somewhat improper desire to be of interest to Yihao was somewhat fulfilled when Yihao wouldn’t let him give away his shoes to the fans.  
Of course, Yihao was not being possessive of Seunggi, nor was he taking special care of him – he was merely using his common sense and stopped Seunggi from doing something stupid.  
Once again, however, it still felt nice, so that was what Seunggi focused on, even if he might only make the actual goodbye harder for him that way. 

Yihao was a perfect host of this last get together. He was talking about the experiences they had had and even went as far as saying: “I have wanted to do a variety show but did not have the chance. Now, with my brother it was possible. Seunggi took good care of me. It was really nice.”  
Seunggi’s ears were heating up but the cameras were far enough away.  
“We had a great time.” Seunggi said and allowed himself a genuine smile. 

One of the last things Seunggi and Yihao did together in front of the camera was singing their song for their fans.  
It was a totally different but just as nerve-wracking experience to sing for people that had some form of standard for a performance. 

Everyone looked eagerly at them, and Seunggi felt like the song was a success, even if his voice was a little raspy.  
Yihao joined in with the Mandarin lyrics at the end, and they brought the song to a harmonic close. 

The fans stood up to say their goodbyes. Some of the fans started crying which was a heart-breaking sight. Seunggi only barely managed to hold back his own tears.  
It was not the first time the ending of a show made him tearful, but he felt like he was laying too many emotions out in the open if he were to cry at something he spent only a little over two weeks at most.  
The show had made him lose some of his fear of traveling with a stranger and his heart. 

Seunggi jumped. He had not lost his heart, had he?

“Are you alright?” Yihao whispered.  
“Yes.” Seunggi said. “I am sad it’s over.”  
“Yes.” Yihao said and turned to one of the fans that wanted another picture.  
Of course, Seunggi was not jealous. He had already got to spend a lot of time with Yihao, just because this was coming to a close did not mean he could just hog Yihao’s attention. 

Wrapping up the filming did not take too long in the grand scheme of things. Seunggi and Yihao distributed some presents among the fans and talk some more, wishing them all safe travels.  
They had met a lot of amazing people and their fans from all around Asia certainly were examples of the very kindest of people the world had to offer. 

Seunggi and Yihao left the café, bowing multiple times.  
When they were outside at the fresh air with the sky turning a lovely golden colour, Seunggi sighed.  
Yihao laughed.  
“I need to go travel again like this.” Seunggi said.  
“Take me with you?”  
Seunggi laughed it off, not sure it had actually been a joke. He did not want it to be a joke. He wanted to travel again with Yihao, but maybe Yihao was only joking. Maybe Yihao was relieved he would not have to spend any more time with Seunggi. 

Just the way they were, Yihao and Seunggi were taken to another restaurant.  
When they got into the car, Yihao received a call. He smiled apologetically and started quickly talking to the person on the phone. His voice was soft and Seunggi felt his heart sink.  
Maybe, Yihao had told his significant other that for the duration of the trip he would not answer calls, but the trip was over now, and they could probably not wait to talk again.  
Seunggi’s mind was spiralling quickly, but he was in no position to stop himself. 

Yihao ended the call saying the one phrase Seunggi knew perfectly well in Chinese: “I love you.”  
Seunggi did not feel like crying, he was too numb for that, and he did still want to leave a somewhat favourable impression on Yihao as his valued colleague. 

“That was my mother.” Yihao said with a smile.  
“Your mother?” Seunggi asked, head whipping over to Yihao.  
“Yes. She says hi.”  
“Oh, that’s kind.” Seunggi said.  
“I told her about you.”  
“Only good things, I hope.”  
“Of course.” Yihao said, sounding so genuinely confused that Seunggi got a little flustered. 

Seunggi did not have a chance to continue the conversation because Yihao’s phone rang again. Seunggi tensed a little.  
Yihao groaned. “Manager.” He said and answered the call.  
Seunggi did not want to be at ease because of what Yihao had said, but he felt his muscles relax. 

Yihao had just finished the conversation when they arrived at the restaurant.  
Seunggi was not sure what sort of conversation it had been, if it had been about anything positive or negative, but he did not find a way to respectfully ask about that before they were ushered out of the car. 

“I booked this in your name for the staff and crew.” Seunggi’s manager told him.  
“That’s awfully kind of you.” Seunggi replied dryly.  
“It’s one of your favourite restaurants.”  
“Of course, it is. Thank you for being so thoughtful.” Seunggi said, sincerely this time. 

Inside the restaurant, Seunggi went to talk to different people from the crew while waiting for the last people to arrive.  
He and Yihao were not spending much time together then and that did not change when the director arrived. 

Yihao sat down at the other end of the table and looked perfectly content where he was.  
The only form of indirect interaction they had was when they were asked to say some words. 

“Thank you, Seunggi!” Yihao said at the end of his little speech. Seunggi laughed and raised his glass. He copied Yihao at the end of his speech and was met with sparkling eyes across the room, but that was all for a long time. 

“You held out better than I would have thought you did when I first told you about this.” His manager said when he had squeezed down next to him after dinner.  
“Did you ever think that that might have been because you did not ask me but tell me?”  
“Well, I decided for your own good.”  
“This time that worked, but it won’t always work!” Seunggi glared at his manager a little.  
“Yihao is a good kid.”  
“You are not that much older than him.”  
“He is good.” It was no use to argue with his manager, he could be very stubborn as Seunggi had experienced many times, and it was not even like Seunggi was actually not sharing his opinion. 

“You like him even if you thought you would not like him.”  
“You cannot know that.” Seunggi protested.  
“You like him. You and Yihao get along well. You get along, don’t you, Yihao?”  
Seunggi jumped and coughed. Yihao was standing closer than he had thought. Seunggi could not be sure that Yihao had not understood anything. 

“Get along?” Yihao asked, confused, but smiling brightly as always.  
“I like you. You like me.” Seunggi said clumsily in English. Yihao was staring at him a little. “I trust you, you trust me.” Seunggi said in Chinese and received a smile from Yihao.  
“Yes.” Yihao agreed eagerly. 

Yihao stayed close to Seunggi after that short talk, but they did not talk any more.  
Seunggi’s heart calmed down again when he could be somewhat certain that Yihao had not understood what his manager had said, and he was able to hold conversations with different people. 

Yihao was also talking to many people. Seunggi had to admit that he was jealous of every single one of them, even if it was very nice to feel his presence next to him at all times. 

The evening came to an organic close. It did not feel like it had dragged on for too long, but it was also not stopped in the middle of things.  
The director banged against an empty bottle and spoke one last word of thanks to everyone that had participated and helped to make filming be this smoothly.  
They clapped and people rose to leave. 

Yihao left Seunggi’s side again, but Seunggi did not have time to look for him again, before a staff called over to him: “Seunggi?”  
“Yes!” Seunggi shouted back.  
“You take care of Jasper!”  
“Yes.” Seunggi said immediately.  
Oh. That meant he would be taking care of Yihao now.  
Sure. Good. No, of course. No problem. He could do that. 

Seunggi kneaded his fingers, trying to think of what to do, but his mind was blank.  
“I had your car taken here.” His manager told him, handing him the keys. “I will see you again next week. Don’t do anything stupid.”  
“Yes, mum.” Seunggi laughed. 

He was glad to not have drunk anything. He had not trusted himself with liquor and his tendency to a loose tongue. All of that now came in handy when he was allowed to claim responsibility for Yihao. 

Seunggi walked over to Yihao with careful, natural breaths.  
“Are you ready?” Seunggi asked Yihao.  
“Yes.” Yihao turned around and went to grab his bag. He had everything with him, his backpack, and his guitar.  
“Let’s go.” Seunggi said in Korean and nearly stumbled when Yihao repeated after him. 

Seunggi helped to put Yihao’s things into the back of the car and then sat down on the driver’s seat.  
“Where is your hotel? I will take you.” Seunggi said, only vaguely turning towards Yihao.  
He would have to show professionalism for a little longer and then he could look at all the pictures he and Yihao had taken over the trip, maybe cry a little, and then at some point, fall asleep. 

“I did not book a hotel.” Yihao said into the silence.  
“No?” Seunggi would have thought that the management would have remembered to book the hotel for two nights for Yihao and not just for the exact duration of the filming. 

“No. I don’t know the town. Maybe you know…” Yihao said and trailed off.  
Maybe, he had not liked the hotel he had spent the night in and wanted Seunggi’s genuine recommendation for a better place.  
All of that sounded logical in Seunggi’s head, and yet, what he said was: “You can always just stay with me…”  
“I like that better.” Yihao said simply and fastened his seatbelt. He looked ahead, so Seunggi also looked ahead, fastened his own seatbelt, and started the engine. 

With every corner they turned around and got closer to Seunggi’s place, his heart started beating faster.  
It was normal for friends to come over to one’s place. Seunggi had slept in one room with Yihao several times now to be completely used to the idea.  
He was not uncomfortable at the thought of sharing a room with Yihao.  
He was not uncomfortable at the thought of showing his home to Yihao. 

Seunggi was only nervous. He was excited but felt bad for being so excited when Yihao had only asked for a place to stay the night.  
He had never asked for Seunggi’s heart, he had not asked Seunggi to stare at him and marvel at all the beauty that was in and around Yihao. That had all been solely Seunggi’s doing. 

When Seunggi got into the garage, he parked the car, and helped Yihao with his bags. Yihao smiled at him but they were not talking.  
They were also not talking in the elevator, when he keyed in his passcode, or even when they kicked off their shoes. 

“I’m going to take a shower, you too?” Seunggi announced, willing his cheeks not to heat up. Yihao would not have understood the sentence the way his brain suddenly decided to twist it.  
“Yes. I will wait.” Yihao smiled. It was not a smirk, but it was also not a smile that was evidently ignorant of the possibility to misunderstand. 

Seunggi felt his cheeks heat up, after all. He turned around quickly and led the way to the bedroom.  
“Look at whatever you want.” Seunggi said. He went over to his drawer and quickly grabbed a set of pyjamas and boxers. 

His pyjamas were the necessary white shirt and flannel shorts. He hurried in the bathroom in order not to let Yihao wait too long for his shower. 

Once he was done, he pulled the pyjamas on and left the bathroom, hair still wet. He had a towel around his shoulders, though. 

Yihao had been sitting on the couch in the living room but stood up when Seunggi came into the room.  
“I’ll get you some pyjamas too.” Seunggi said and walked on into his bedroom.  
He picked out another combination of flannel shorts and white shirt. He needed to dig a little for a white shirt that was on the larger side, as Yihao was a bit taller than he was.  
He was focused and jumped rather embarrassingly when Yihao suddenly took the towel from his shoulders. 

He did not take it away, but gently draped it over his head and dried his hair, massaging the scalp carefully.  
“Wet hair is not good.” Yihao said in English. “I don’t like it.” He added in Korean. 

“Ah, thank you.” Seunggi said and tried to take the towel away. He was relaxing with Yihao’s attention, but he could not possibly enjoy himself that much. That was not fair on Yihao and not good for himself in the long run. He would only miss Yihao even more like that. 

“I want to do it.” Yihao insisted. Seunggi glanced over his shoulder and shuddered a little when Yihao smiled at him.  
Seunggi turned back around quickly. Facing the wall was good. It allowed him a tiny bit less monitoring of his reaction to Yihao’s gentle hands and soft movements. 

“Do you want to shower too?” Seunggi asked absolutely in spite of himself. He had got a little too comfortable and was about to lean back against Yihao chest, but he should not. He was not allowed to. He had no right. 

“Yes.” Yihao said and took the towel away.  
Seunggi turned around when Yihao stepped back.  
“I will be quick.” Yihao said.  
“No rush.” Seunggi said.  
Yihao nodded and left in the direction Seunggi had come from. 

When Seunggi was alone again, he felt his hair. It was essentially dry, so there was nothing else for him to do. He turned back to the drawer, not sure what to do.  
He had left his phone on the drawer and grabbed it now. He unlocked it and scrolled through the pictures he had taken in the past two weeks.  
Because they had had cameras on them essentially the whole time, there were not that many pictures he had taken. The pictures he had taken, however, were a good representation of what they had experienced together. 

Seunggi soon reached the selfie he and Yihao had taken on the boat today. Compared with the other pictures, Seunggi was even more certain that it was the first time he had seen this particular soft smile on Yihao’s face.  
He himself looked happy and therefore pretty enough next to Yihao, but Yihao was simply gorgeous. 

Suddenly, Yihao hooked his chin over Seunggi’s shoulder. Seunggi was not one to scream when he was scared. He did jump though, and really had to hold himself back now as to not possibly hurt Yihao’s jaw.  
“Pretty.” Yihao said.  
“I like the picture.” Seunggi had trouble forming thoughts in Korean, so he was very proud of that highly complex English sentence he had just produced.  
“Yes. You are pretty.”  
Seunggi laughed. Yihao had to be joking, surely.  
He stopped laughing when he turned around and saw that Yihao was not wearing anything but a towel he had wound around his waist. 

“Can I have my pyjamas?” Yihao asked with a smile.  
Seunggi was slightly grounded by the fact that there was a faint blush on Yihao’s cheeks, so at least Seunggi was not the only one feeling somewhat affected by the situation.  
“Yes.” Seunggi said. He turned around and grabbed the pyjamas he had mindlessly discarded on the drawer.  
He had seen Yihao topless when they had been in the swimming pool together, but he had cleverly supressed that memory, first of all, and secondly, it was totally different to see him in swim shorts than with just a shirt. 

“No sleeping suit. Just pyjamas.” Seunggi said.  
“It is a couple look.” Yihao smiled. He took the pyjamas and went back into the bathroom. 

In quick succession, Seunggi slapped his cheeks a couple of times. A couple-y look. It was a joke because they would look the same.  
Maybe Yihao had not been able to think of the English word for twin quite so quickly. This did not mean anything. Nothing at all. 

Seunggi went into his kitchen, hoping to leave all his nervous energy behind in the bedroom for now.  
Of course, that hope entailed that the nervous energy would have evaporated once he got back to the room later on.  
When trying to sleep soundly next to Yihao, he could very well do without any nervous energy.  
He did not yet even know whether they would be sleeping next to each other. Seunggi would end up on the couch probably, but still, it would be best for both if nervous energy would no longer take part in their evening. 

“Seunggi-oppa?” Yihao called when he stepped out of the bathroom, turning the wrong way to spot Seunggi.  
Seunggi’s heart dropped. He took a deep breath and called: “Kitchen!”  
Yihao turned around and grinned at Seunggi. He looked absolutely adorable and cuddly. It was a good thing that there was some distance between them now, otherwise, Seunggi could have probably not kept the appropriate amount of distance. 

“Do you want to try soju?” Seunggi asked, mainly to say something.  
“I don’t want to be drunk tonight.” Yihao answered but walked over to Seunggi anyways.  
Seunggi did not quite understand why that should be the case, but quickly offered tea, and received an affirmative response. 

Yihao turned to the window, which gave Seunggi the opportunity to regulate his breathing a little. He filled the kettle and only then allowed his attention to shift over to Yihao.  
“You have a good view here.” Yihao said.  
“It is a city view, not nature. But it is very pretty.” Seunggi said, not not-proud. 

He walked over to Yihao and stood next to him, looking out of the window.  
Slowly, Yihao turned to him. “Thank you, my together friend.” Yihao’s voice was soft and immediately sent shivers down Seunggi’s spine.  
“I had a very nice trip. An adventure.” Yihao continued.  
“Me too.”  
“I will miss…” Yihao left the sentence hanging in the air, so Seunggi quickly spoke up: “Same. It will be weird when the schedule is back to normal.” 

Yihao looked at him and seemed displeased. “I will miss you.” He said.  
“I will miss you too.” Seunggi answered honestly, heart beating so wildly, that he was sure Yihao should be able to see the tremors that went through his body. 

Yihao’s features softened some more, if that was even possible. He turned so that he was completely facing Seunggi and took an impossibly small step towards Seunggi.  
Just in that moment, the kettle was done. Seunggi jumped a little, and Yihao stepped back again, so smoothly, that Seunggi was not sure he had stepped towards him at all. 

Seunggi brewed the tea and put mugs onto a plate that he carried into the living room where Yihao had already moved to.  
He placed the tray down in front of the low windows and sat down. Yihao joined him. Wordlessly, Seunggi handed Yihao his cup and then turned to look outside. 

“Languages are funny.” Yihao said into the comfortable silence that never really seemed to leave them.  
“Yes.” Seunggi agreed easily. He had had this kind of thought several times already in the past few days.  
“I want to understand everything you say.” Yihao said.  
Seunggi laughed a little nervously. “Chinese is difficult, but you are already good at Korean!”  
“Not good enough.” Yihao said and sighed.  
“We understand each other!” Seunggi insisted. “You are a good person. You are comfortable.” He said, effectively listing the Chinese phrases they have repeated to each other on their trip.  
“Yes.” Yihao smiled a little. “I like it.” He said, in Korean. 

After they each took some sips of their tea, Yihao sighed a little and said: “English is a weak language.”  
“Isn’t it strong?” Seunggi asked.  
“No!” Yihao seemed certain about this. “It is not the same as Mandarin or Korean. It is weak.”  
Seunggi’s heart was back to its annoying business of pounding in his chest. Yihao’s words reminded him of what he had thought about the English ‘I love you.’ having less impact than his or any speaker’s mother tongue. 

“’I like you.’ is not as strong as ‘I love you.’ in Korean.” Yihao said. Yihao’s pronunciation of ‘I love you.’ in Korean was adorable, but that was evidently not the only reason why Seunggi was currently coughing and chocking.  
“’I like you.’ is ‘I like you.’ in Korean!” he said. Yihao might not have been aware of the distinction existing in Korean. 

“Yes. I know.” Yihao smiled softly, and Seunggi had the lovely experience of feeling what his heart felt like when it went berserk in his chest.  
Yihao placed his teacup onto the table behind them and then took Seunggi’s cup too and put it away. 

Very gently, Yihao took Seunggi’s hands and softly rubbed his thumbs over the back of Seunggi’s hands.  
“Seunggi-ssi. I love you.” Yihao said in Korean.  
“Yihao…” Seunggi’s mind was blank and he did not even really dare to breathe. 

Yihao grabbed Seunggi’s hands a little tighter. “I mean: I love you, but stronger.” Yihao looked at him with a little bit of desperation in his eyes even.  
“I love you.” He repeated in Korean. “Really!”  
Yihao’s Korean ‘Really!’ both as a question and as an affirmation was one of Seunggi’s favourite sounds ever. He allowed himself to breathe and was suddenly very aware of the soft and big hands that were holding his own. 

“Really!” Yihao repeated a little quieter.  
“Yihao…” Seunggi whispered. He needed to trust Yihao that this was not a joke. He could not live this down if it turned out to be a joke. However, they trusted each other. So they have said many times in the past weeks. 

“Yihao.” Seunggi said. He looked into his eyes but was unable to keep the eye contact. “I love you.” He whispered in Chinese.  
“Really?” Yihao’s voice squeaked a little.  
Seunggi laughed. “Really!” He was even able to look at Yihao again.  
“Really?” Yihao asked again, voice getting a little higher still.  
“Yes.” Seunggi said and fell forward, hiding his face in Yihao’s thigh. His adorable eyes were a little too much to bear in a situation where breathing was a real task. 

“You love me?” Yihao sounded disbelieving.  
“Yes!” Seunggi was still hiding in Yihao’s thigh. “I fell in love with you on the trip. I missed you when we waited to go to Nepal. I love your smile. You are gorgeous. You are kind.” The words came flowing out of Seunggi’s mouth in Korean. “I want to protect you, always. Together, everything was so nice!”  
Seunggi took some deep breaths and closed his eyes. 

“I did not understand everything.” Yihao said, sounding sadder than Seunggi had ever heard him before.  
Carefully, Seunggi lifted his head and risked a look at Yihao’s face.  
“I love you with all I have. I love everything about you.” Seunggi said, in English this time.  
“All?” Yihao laughed. “You don’t know all.” 

Yihao’s laugh always made Seunggi feel good, but the meaning of his words almost felt like a punch in the gut.  
Seunggi moved slightly away from Yihao.  
“Mh?” Yihao asked, brows furrowing.  
“You are right. We don’t know each other.” Seunggi did not sigh, which was something at least. He did hear the palpable sadness in his voice, though. “You don’t know what rumour there are about me.” 

Seunggi pushed himself up only to flop down on the sofa, carefully avoiding to fully look at Yihao.  
Yihao turned around to him slowly. “Earlier, you mentioned a girlfriend?”  
“No. Not girlfriend, only a rumour.” Seunggi said quickly. “She was not my girlfriend. We were only friends. We were not dating.”  
In frustration, Seunggi started pulling at his hair, dropping his head into his hands. 

“Don’t do that!” Yihao said in Korean, making Seunggi freeze. He heard that Yihao stood up and felt him coming closer. “You hurt yourself.” He said in English.  
“Won’t you get hurt when you stay with me?” Seunggi lost the fight and sighed.  
“I am hurting now.” Yihao said.  
“Now?” Seunggi pulled his hands away from his face and jumped up. “Why?” 

Yihao’s arms closed around Seunggi’s waist immediately and pulled him closer.  
“Because I have to stop myself from doing this.” Yihao said, staring deep into Seunggi’s eyes. He lifted a hand to his cheek, rubbing his thumb over it softly.  
Seunggi’s breath hitched a little at the intimate closeness, when Yihao leaned closer and kissed Seunggi gently.  
It was a short kiss, but it was enough to make Seunggi close his eyes and relax in Yihao’s hold. 

“I wanted to do this for a long time.” Yihao whispered.  
“You?” Seunggi’s eyes snapped open again. Yihao had wanted to kiss him?  
“Yes.” Yihao said patiently. “You are very pretty, Seunggi-ssi.”  
Seunggi was unable to think of anything to say to that which was entirely due to Yihao looking at him with a glint in his eyes and his lips being way too close for Seunggi to focus on anything else.  
So, instead of racking his brains for something to say, Seunggi slightly went on his tiptoes and kissed Yihao, longer this time. 

It would have been even longer if Seunggi had any say in the matter, his brain had just tuned back into what was happening, when Yihao broke away giggling. 

“I came up here for 1 percent chance of good weather.” Yihao explained, at least it was pretty clear that he seemed to think that with that, he had sufficiently explained himself.  
“Good weather?” Seunggi asked, still caught up with many things, not able to follow Yihao immediately. “Ah, like with the mountain. Why only 1 percent?” Seunggi asked when oxygen had found its way to his brain. 

“We are friends, best friends. You are my brother. You didn’t want to be romantic, you said. Many times.” Yihao looked a little sheepish.  
“Because I was considerate of you. And because I was embarrassed.” Seunggi forced himself to say, he could have stuck to present tense with that last statement, though. As they spoke, he was certainly the epitome of embarrassed. 

“You? Embarrassed?” Yihao laughed bubbly and held Seunggi close with one arm, kneading his ear softly with the other hand. “You don’t need to be embarrassed with me.”  
Seunggi squeezed his eyes shut and let himself enjoy Yihao’s massage, before attempting to shoot back to pay back for his embarrassment: “Why did you have 1 percent chance then if you thought I didn’t care for you romantically?” 

Yihao stopped the kneading, and Seunggi opened his eyes. For a split second, he was sure he had won that round, but then Yihao smirked, and Seunggi’s heart sank.  
“You said: “I really like you” when we arrived in Nepal after climbing Annapurna.” Yihao told him.  
“I really like you?” Seunggi asked.  
“Yes. You repeated it a couple of times.” Yihao was very amused, and Seunggi felt his face heating up anew.  
“I was very tired.”  
“And very honest, so you kept saying!” Yihao put his hand on Seunggi’s cheek, stroking gently. “You gave me the 1 percent chance yourself.” 

Seunggi groaned and tried hiding in Yihao neck, but Yihao kept him in place with the hand on his cheek.  
“Don’t be embarrassed.”  
“You are not making it easy looking at me like that.” Seunggi pouted.  
“What makes it easier?” Yihao asked, sounding genuinely curious and wanting to help for real. He was the sweetest person Seunggi had ever met. No one, absolutely no one could reproach him for falling in love with him.  
Fine, he had not realised so immediately, but he had now, and due to being the luckiest person alive, it was not yet too late!

“This.” Seunggi said and started kissing Yihao again.  
Another laugh flowed out of Yihao. He did not break off though and continued kissing Seunggi.  
All of a sudden, he bent down and picked Seunggi up. Seunggi gasped and clung to Yihao’s neck, quickly wrapping his legs around his waist. 

“You are not scared of anything, but you’re scared of me?” Yihao laughed delightedly.  
“I am not scared.” Seunggi said petulantly, clinging on desperately as Yihao walked into the bedroom.  
“No, you’re not.” Yihao raised his eyebrows. Seunggi glared at him which only made him chuckle, not that Seunggi minded hearing the chuckles, of course.  
“I am not!” Seunggi said, only to let out a small yelp when Yihao lowered him into his bed. 

Yihao was still smiling softly, but there was that same dark glint in his eyes that Seunggi had spotted earlier.  
“Good.” Yihao whispered. He put his hands onto Seunggi’s waist and hovered over him just watching him for a while.  
“Don’t be scared when I am with you, please.”  
“I am not.” Seunggi assured him. “I can protect you too, if you are scared.” 

“Oh, I am not scared.” Yihao said with a near-smug grin, before leaning down and kissing Seunggi.  
This time, Yihao was not shy. He kissed Seunggi with agency and intent. Seunggi’s hands went into Yihao’s soft curls. Yihao kept one hand on Seunggi’s waist to hold him down while the other hand trailed up his arm, to link fingers with Seunggi over his head. 

Yihao put pressure onto Seunggi’s waist which made him gasp. Seunggi felt Yihao smile against his lips before he deepened the kiss.  
Yihao was still careful, but he was not holding himself back much either. 

Yihao’s skilful tongue made it impossible for Seunggi to form thoughts that went in complexity beyond utterances like “Ng.”, “Yes.”, or some vague associations of Yihao’s name. 

When Yihao started massaging Seunggi’s waist, Seunggi let out the smallest moan, immediately making Yihao stop what he was doing, which Seunggi did not think was fair at all.  
He groaned a little and hid his face in the arm Yihao was holding above his head. 

“I love you.” Seunggi froze when he heard Yihao say this in Chinese.  
Well, he stopped moving before shivers went through him and he giggled, feeling light-headed. “I love you.” Korean whispered back in Korean. 

Yihao sighed and let himself fall down next to Seunggi. He let go off his hand only to immediately grab the other one and lace their fingers together.  
Seunggi felt a little braver after Yihao’s reaction and turned his head to the right to look at him. 

“At the heaven’s light, at the trees, while looking at Annapurna…” Seunggi started, squeezing Yihao’s hand. “I wished that this would go well.”  
“Only then?” Yihao turned to him with a warm smile. “I wished for that every night.”

How could Yihao overpower him so easily with the sweet things he said?  
“When you could not sleep because I was snoring.” Seunggi teased.  
“I could not sleep because I was nervous next to you. The snoring was relaxing. I slept worse at home.” Yihao said, swiftly snatching the crown out of Seunggi’s hands before he had even placed it onto his head. 

“When you spoke English in your dream.” Seunggi said.  
“Yes.” Yihao agreed. “My mum recorded what I said. She heard your name and wanted to ask me what I said because she doesn’t speak English that well.”  
“You said my name?” Seunggi asked, despite knowing that he would not see that crown again for quite a while. It was only a figurative crown for the one having the upper-hand, so who cared really, anyways? 

“Yes.” Yihao admitted without any trace of embarrassment. “I think I said: ‘Seunggi-ssi. Seunggi-oppa, I will take care of you.’.”  
“Why are you never embarrassed?” Seunggi groaned a little and stared at the ceiling.  
Yihao squeezed his hand and then lifted their hands over their heads, forcing Seunggi to look at them and not the ceiling. 

“I have been embarrassed before!”  
“I doubt it.” Seunggi pouted, looking away from Yihao.  
“I was!” Yihao insisted.  
“When?”  
“When we were swimming together? You are really pretty, Seunggi.”  
“That’s no reason to be embarrassed. You are pretty too.”  
Yihao was silent for too long, so that Seunggi was forced to look at him again. An expression of marvel was on his face, which obviously suited him very well, simply did not work in this situation, though.  
Why would Yihao be surprised that Seunggi thought he was pretty? 

“You are very pretty, Yihao.” Seunggi said and experienced the delight of seeing a blush spread over Yihao’s cheeks.  
“Not as pretty as you.” Yihao said and grinned. His cheeks were still red, and yet, he had somehow managed to regain the upper hand. It was now Seunggi’s time to blush and turn away again. 

“I was also embarrassed today.” Yihao said into the short beat of silence.  
“Today?”  
“Yes. I spoke on the phone with my mum.”  
“I remember.” Seunggi said. There was no need to disclose the jealousy he had felt at that moment to Yihao, so he bit his tongue, waiting for Yihao to continue.  
“She told me I should open my heart to you, tell you my feelings.”  
Seunggi’s heart picked up speed. “You talked to your mum about me?”  
“Yes! I told you.”  
“Yes, but about your feelings?” Seunggi turned completely away, hiding his face in a pillow.  
“She knows me. I did not have to tell her.” Yihao said softly and put his hand on Seunggi’s cheek to turn him back towards himself. 

“I lied.” Yihao said. Seunggi’s brows furrowed, but before he could ask what Yihao was talking about, Yihao started smiling and said: “I spoke to the manager and demanded to not spend tonight at the hotel. I did have a hotel, but I wanted to be with you. With a 1% chance.” Yihao looked more happy than embarrassed about it, which meant that it was once again Seunggi’s turn to be embarrassed. 

“I want you to be here with me too.” Seunggi admitted.  
“That is the one thing I have always wanted to hear.” Yihao said cheerfully, while Seunggi’s face was flaring up.  
“Why are you not embarrassed?” Seunggi whined.  
“Do I need to be?” Yihao asked.  
“No.” Seunggi sighed softly. “I just admire you.”  
“I admire you.” Yihao protested immediately. “You are clever. Not clever enough not to completely ignore me, though.”  
“That would have been the most stupid thing I ever did.”  
“You promised not to lie to me again!” Yihao giggled happily and poked Seunggi’s cheek with his other hand, making Seunggi jump a little. Yihao’s giggles intensified, and Seunggi had to admit (with no heavy heart whatsoever) that that was the most delightful sound in the universe! 

“I won’t.” Seunggi said. He was honest, could, however, not stop himself from adding: “I am serious, Jasper.”  
As predicted, Yihao pulled his hand away. “You were mean when you called me Jasper before.” Yihao said with the most adorable pout.  
“Not mean.” Seunggi said, pouting back, as they had proven time and time again that two could play that game. 

“You lied.”  
“Game is game.” Seunggi grinned.  
“This is not a game.” Yihao said, staring imploringly into Seunggi’s eyes.  
“No, it’s not.” Seunggi said quietly. He aimed a kiss at Yihao’s dimple. Yihao started smiling at the dimple appeared, making Seunggi smile too. 

“I really love you.” Seunggi said in Korean.  
“Really? I love you.” Yihao said, also in Korean.  
Seunggi softly punched Yihao’s side, bringing their arms back down. Yihao giggled, and Seunggi snuggled into him. 

With his free hand, Yihao caressed first Seunggi’s cheek before running his fingers through his hair.  
Seunggi was experiencing pure bliss for the first time in his life. He did not ever want to move from this position. And if he had to move at some point, he wanted to move in a way that permitted to keep Yihao close.  
This was not going to be the easiest thing to navigate ever, but then being in love with Yihao certainly was the easiest thing Seunggi had ever done, so they would be fine, he was 100 percent positive. 

“I am the happiest I have ever been.” Seunggi mumbled into Yihao’s chest. “And that is saying a lot after that perfect trip we have had.”  
Yihao put his arms onto the small of Seunggi’s back and pulled him even closer into him. He said something soft in Chinese that made Seunggi’s head spin, without understanding exactly what he had said. 

“I will learn to understand Chinese.” Seunggi said, lifting his head a little.  
“No.” Yihao said, pushing Seunggi’s head back onto his chest.  
“No?”  
“It is enough to learn to understand me.” Yihao said. “You understand me. I understand you.”  
“I trust you. You trust me.” Seunggi whispered.  
“Yes.” Yihao said and pressed a soft kiss on the top of Seunggi’s head.


End file.
